IS: Butterfly effect
by One Half
Summary: This story is about one of chaos theory concepts, so called 'butterfly effect', specifically 'what would've changed if we'd change one initial condition', and Ichika will be that condition. Let's see what would've happened if Orimura Ichika wouldn't have been "very kind fool loved by everyone" type of personality, but something completely different.
1. The Miracle

**Disclaimer: Infinite Stratos franchise belongs to Izuru Yumizuri.**

* * *

Hello, everyone. Here I am with my own view on Infinite Stratos. This is sorta commissioned story, 'requested' by one of my readers, and I found that idea interesting.

Story rated 'M', as here will be quite a lot of different kinds of content that require such a rating.

I'll try to keep other characters inside their characters as much as possible and I'm not going to include any OC in main staff as long as I'm following canon material.

Side note: the picture I'm using as a cover was given me by one of my readers, and sadly nor she neither I know it's author, so if you by any chance are an author, please tell me so I could give you some credits.

That's it for introduction, so let us begin.

 **Bold** – names; _'italic'_ – thoughts; [square brackets] – author's note.

* * *

 **Chapter I – The Miracle**

…

"There it is!" Chifuyu told to herself. According to Bundeswehr officer, Ichika was held as hostage here, inside that old abandoned factory building. She was in the middle of 2nd Mondo Grosso when she learned that her younger brother was kidnapped. "Please brother… just be alive!" Orimura Chifuyu was hardened warrior, and she knew that she has to keep her cool no matter what, but… With their parents out of the picture, Ichika was her only family, she couldn't even think about losing him.

As she reached factory, Chifuyu plunged her I.S. metallic arms into building's wall, and tore it open. I.S. sensors immediately scanned the indoor, and, despite Chifuyu's inhuman reaction, even she required few seconds to fully comprehend what exactly she's seeing. The building's interior was filled with dust, smoke and burned, twisted metal. On the floor were seven bodies, still warm but with no life signs, they were corpses, simple as that. Near the opposite side, a young boy was standing. It was her brother, Ichika. In his left hand he was clenching a combat knife with bloodied blade, in his right he was clenching a grenade, seemingly both weapons were trophies he picked up from his capturers. And he himself was cowered with blood from tip to toes. Chifuyu's I.S. didn't found anymore life signs.

"Onee-chan?" Barely twelve years-old boy asked, shielding his eyes from light that was coming through the hole Chifuyu just made, "Onee-chan, is that you?" Chifuyu dashed to him. As she embraced him with her right arm, she used her left to gently unclench his right palm and take away a grenade. "I am so sorry, onee-chan…" It was hard for him to talk, he was bleeding and his strength was at its limit. "I let them to attack me from behind… I'm so sorry…"

"Silence!" Elder sister ordered, she was worried for brother's life as, according to her I.S. sensors, his biorhythms were unstable. "I'm taking you to hospital, hold on!"

"Onee-chan… I promise… I will never ever again… let anyone… to attack me from behind…" He whispered.

…

"Hah!?" Chifuyu woke up. It was first day of a new school year in I.S. Academy. She came quite early today, and slightly dozed off. She looked around and quickly came back to her senses. "Dammit!" She swore silently, "How long these memories are going to haunt me? It's all a distant past now…"

* * *

April 10th, 8:34 AM

"Everyone's here, right? Then let's start the student homeroom meeting…" The assistant homeroom teacher, Maya Yamada, introduced herself as she stood in front of the blackboard, smiling earnestly at everyone. Quite petite young woman, she could be easily mistaken as a high school student herself. Not too good impression for the teacher, but who knows, maybe she's actually quite good at what she's doing? "Alright, everyone, let's all get along with each other over this coming year…" Lack of reaction from students definitely didn't give her some additional self-confidence. "So let's do self-introductions. Umm… we'll go by your last names…"

Well, seemingly it's not that easy to teach in military-like educational institution… By the way, audience was quite remarkable as well, since here, in this class, were twenty-nine girls and _only one_ boy. And not only that, in this entire facility were about 450 females (staff included, most of which were about or below thirty years old), yet still only one male, that one – the boy which was sitting on first place of middle row of the class. It's probably quite weird, but not that weird as fact that he, _Ichika Orimura_ , was one and only man, among 3 500 000 000+ men of the earth, who could operate an **Infinite Stratos**.

Of course, sights of all 29 girls were glued to him, boring into Ichika's back. However, for some reason he didn't seem bothered by it, as he didn't seem bothered at all, just bored. With his eyes half-closed, he slightly adjusted his blue necktie. By the way, all his classmates also were wearing blue neckties, bows or ribbons on their necks, as blue-colored neck accessories were symbolizing that they all are first-grade students.

Speaking of which, despite **I.S. Academy** was a military-like institution, requirements for uniform were relatively loose. Most girls were dressed quite equally, which is pretty normal for high school students, wearing white one-piece dresses with blazer-like tops, with crimson seams and cuffs, black collars and buttons. However, few girls were looking not like the rest, as one of them was wearing dress which was much longer than others, another one was wearing two-piece suit, which was consisting of blazer and same colored short skirt. In other words, it seemed like that if it has a proper color scheme it's allowed, as long as it's not vulgar. Footwear could be of any type as far as it's white, crimson or black in any combination.

Boys' uniform was a different story, as up until now here were no boys to wear it. As such, the only boy was allowed to wear anything as much as it'll fit the standard color scheme. He was wearing white long trench coat with crimson seams and cuff, black collar and buttons, snow-white shirt with blue necktie, white army pants and black knee-high army boots. On his left arm he wore white leather glove, which actually was his _I.S._ unit in stand-by mode.

Big black Boston bag was lying near his table, seemingly that was his possession. Preparations for his enrollment took longer than expected, so he had no time to settle in dormitory before HRS [ **H** ome- **R** oom **S** ession]. Strange looking sword was lying on his bag, with its 2.5 feet long blade, it was much more suitable for some fantasy RPG than a real life, however, sharp blade seemed pretty dangerous for some reason. Hilt, decorated with angelic patterns and sword guard, shaped as angelic wings, were shining with silver, though, sword wasn't made of silver but of much more durable modern alloy.

Seemingly, that sword caught several girls' attention, especially girl's that was sitting on first place of near-windows row. Her name was _Houki Shinonono_ , and she was Ichika's old acquaintance. Boy noticed Houki's gaze and winked to her, however, girl quickly turned away and pretended to look out the window, which made Ichika to roll his eyes. Speaking of which, his eyes were as remarkable as Ichika himself, as his irises were of different color. His left eye was bright orange as his right was dark red.

"Ichika Orimura-san?" The boy heard his name spoken.

"Yes?" Ichika asked, despite he knew perfectly what's she wants from him.

"Well, we're doing self-introductions here... we started from 'A', and now we're at 'O' for **O** rimura-san. So, pl-please, could you introduce yourself? Please?" Maya Yamada-sensei asked, bowing politely, causing Ichika to raise an eyebrow as he couldn't understand why's she begging him, does he looks like a bad guy…? Well, not that bad, for sure.

"Very well," He replied, standing up.

"Re-really? Really? Well, okay, go right ahead then!" Yamada-sensei grabbed his hand and held it really tightly... and of course entire class was staring at that pretty weird scene, though Ichika stoically endured sensei's quite wierd behavior until she let go of his hand.

World's only male I.S. pilot turned around to face the class. "Well, my name's Ichika Orimura. It's a pleasure to meet you all." He looked around the class, unsurprisingly girls were staring at him like a pack of hungry she-wolves. "I guess you wanna know about me a bit more… well, it'll probably be easier if you just ask me and I'll try to answer the best I can," he suggested.

"Good idea, Orimura-san!" Yamada-sensei exclaimed, surprising the class with unexplainable burst of joy.

2nd row, 3rd seat, cute girl with quite fit body raised her hand, "Can I?" Ichika nodded to Yamada-sensei and she nodded to girl. "My name's Kiyoka Aikawa," Girl introduced herself (again, as being **A** ikawa she already did so), "Ichika-san, is that true that you were in a football team in your Junior High School [middle school], and that your school's team won three national championships in a row, and that you were a team's captain?" That wasn't one but three questions, but Ichika wasn't taken aback.

"Almost," he replied. "I was team's vice-captain when we won first championship, after which previous captain graduated. After that I became team's captain, and we won two more tournaments."

"Aaaaahhh…" "Really!?" "So cool…" Honestly, girls don't need much to admire someone…

"Um… well… anyone else?" Yamada-sensei asked as sighs and whispering finally stopped. Yamada's voice sounded worriedly as Ichika's self-introduction already took quite amount of time, more accurately, girls' chattering took quite long. And of course there were more…

4th row, 4th seat, cute blue-haired girl raised her hand, "Shizune Takatsuki," She introduced herself, "Ichika-san, do you really have a military rank?"

"Yes, Ministry of defense insisted, I guess they want to raise their ratings," He replied, "I'm a _Santōkaisa_ [literally: 'Sea colonel third class', equal to lieutenant-commander] of Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, so if you like, you can call me Lt. commander Orimura," He bowed slightly.

"Oooohhh…" "That's nice!" etc… another few minutes of chattering.

"Well, if that's all then we should conti…" Yamada-sensei tried to say, but another girl (1st row, 5th seat) asked, without even introducing herself (or she already did?), "Wait, Orimura-san, is that true that you have a personal I.S. unit?"

"What, a personal IS?" "For a first-year?!" "Even without being a Representative Candidate?!" "I'm so envious…" "I wish I'd have one…" This time chattering started even before Ichika could reply, though it settled down quickly as he raised his left arm, showing his only glove to class.

Despite it seemed like Yamada-sensei was about to cry, Ichika started to reply, "Yes, I have. This is my personal I.S., **Sukūyomo**. [The Messiah]" In fact, its original name was _Byakushiki_ [lit: white expression], however, after Ichika did 'few' modifications (actually, modifications level exceeded 50%), he renamed his I.S. and now it's called the Messiah. "When government learned about my ability to control the I.S. they…" Ichika's tale was interrupted.

"That's enough, Orimura," Sharp and deep voice interrupted his story. "Spare the miraculous tale about your life for the afterclass." It was said in a manner to leave no place for objections, at all.

 _'Seriously… Among all the teachers here, *she* is going to be my teacher? Seems like Ministry of defense has some sense of humor after all…'_ Ichika thought as he didn't need to look behind to recognize the owner of that voice.

"Ministry of defense cannot affect academy directorship's decisions directly," She said as if she could read his mind, "Sit back to your place." Black tight fitting skirt, tall, slim, the body line of someone who doesn't look muscular even after lots of training, hands folded in front of her chest, sharp, slim hawk eyes… No doubts, that was Orimura Chifuyu, Ichika's elder sister, who appeared to be a teacher in I.S. Academy (though, Ichika already knew that, unofficially…)

"As you wish, Onee-san," Ichika said, as he quickly sat down, avoiding Chifuyu's attempt to hit him with attendance book, despite her inhuman reflexes.

"Stop that buffoonery, can't you even get a simple introduction right?" She cut him off, "And you'll call me Orimura-sensei at school, got that?"

"As you say, Orimura-sensei," Ichika replied obediently, hiding that ironic smirk on his face.

"Ah, Orimura-sensei, is the meeting over?" Yamada asked gingerly (does she afraid of Chifuyu?)

"Yamada-sensei, I'm sorry you had to start my class without me," Chifuyu said with unexpectedly gentle tone.

"No, it's nothing. As the assistant homeroom teacher, if I can't even do such a thing..." It sounded as if Yamada was trying to justify herself…

"Everyone, my name is Chifuyu Orimura, and my duty for the next year is to train you in the operation and controls of an I.S. Everything I teach, you have to remember and understand. To those who don't understand, I'll teach them till they can. My job is to thoroughly train you during your first year in the academy, until you turn 16. You don't have to like me, but you DO have to respect and obey me! Understood?" It sounded less like introduction more like a declaration of war. No doubts, that was Chifuyu's unique way to introduce herself. However, despite her harsh tone of voice, no one seemed scared. Instead, the room erupted in shrieks of elation (and one boy was facepalming).

"EEEEEK! It's Chifuyu-sama!"

"It's Chifuyu-sama herself in real life!"

"I've always been your fan!"

"I'm so happy Chifuyu-sama is my teacher!"

"I'll gladly die for you, Chifuyu onee-sama!"

Chifuyu was looking at the chattering girls, and her face showed discouraged impression. "I'm amazed how many nut-jobs come to this school every year. Do they put all the loonies in my class on purpose?" And she wasn't pretending, she _was_ disappointed.

 _'No, onee-san, no one's doing it on purpose – they are all like that…'_ Ichika thought, there was no need to say it aloud. Seemingly, that was one of those rare occasions when Orimura siblings thought the same.

By the way, Chifuyu's scolding only worsened the situation as several girls praised her more, showing some masochistic aspirations.

"Yeeek! Onee-sama! Scold us more!"

"Really teach us how to behave!"

"But be gentle to us from time to time!"

"And be extremely elegant afterwards!"

 _'I'm wondering, are there some lesbians among them, or they just stupid?'_ Ichika thought, though not that it was really interesting. [When not used by real siblings, term ' _Onee-sama_ ' commonly used in manga and anime, specifically in shoujo-ai series (love between young girls)]

"Wait a second!" Seemingly, several girls have realized something at the same time. "Does that mean that Orimura-sama is Orimura-sama's younger brother?" Said a girl, which was sitting on 1st row, 2nd seat.

"Have you understood yourself what you just said?!" Houki snarled, she was sitting right ahead of the aforementioned girl. However, she was ignored completely.

"Maybe that's why he's the only guy in the world that can operate an I.S.!?" "Oh, drat. I really thought he was cute, too." Ichika's facepalm seemingly became permanent. However, that was necessary evil. Honestly, he could avoid getting into I.S. Academy if he'd waned, but if he had his own personal reasons to come to here, besides, government promised to back him up in exchange for experimental data he could provide as an only male I.S. pilot in the world.

While Chifuyu was explaining her teaching plans, the bell rang, announcing the end of the student homeroom meeting. Well, honestly, nothing that she just said was interesting as most of it was for novices training.

During break before first I.S. theory class, at least fifty girls gathered near class's doors, but probably there were much more of them, Ichika simply wasn't interested in counting. Of course, he knew it perfectly – the reason they all have gathered here was him. Well, entire world now knows about the only male able to pilot an I.S., not to mention this facility, and of course each one of those 350+ girls here wanted to at least take a look at him. However… Ichika wasn't interested in returning that look, as it was said, he had his own reasons in coming here, and all those girls have nothing to do with it.

All of those girls were a separate story. Most of them were _intending_ to become I.S. pilots, which means they were learning basics about being an I.S. pilot since Junior High Schools at least, and all such schools, for understandable reasons, are for girls only. In turn, that means that last time they were interacting with opposite gender (who weren't their relatives or neighbors) on daily basis was in Primary School. No doubts, they all were wanting Ichika to take the initiative, but all their hopes were futile, as Ichika was very good with withstanding social pressure. He developed that skill thanks to _her_ …

In fact, Ichika himself never dreamed about becoming the I.S. pilot. Not because it was impossible for males but because he wasn't really interested in it. To achieve his real goals – there's actually no need for him to pilot an I.S. directly by himself…

However, he needed pretty deep knowledge about I.S. units – one of the reasons to be friends with I.S. creator Shinonono Tabane, but of course not the only one. Brilliant-minded and always very energetic, Tabane was Chifuyu's childhood friend and Ichika always liked her. Humans are boring, all together. However, with Tabane around, it was never boring. Ichika's friendship with aforementioned genius was irritating for both his and Tabane's sister. Chifuyu didn't like it because she thought that Tabane's carelessness and childishness would affect Ichika badly, and Houki… maybe she was jealous, maybe it was something else, Houki never was too talkative person.

Anyway, even after Tabane 'disappeared', Ichika was talking to her from time to time. When he told her about accident when he learned about own ability to control I.S, she sounded excited, though Ichika got a suspicion that she wasn't surprised at all… Nevertheless, she offered some advices about customizing his new exoskeleton. By now, only blind spot in Ichika's knowledge about I.S. was unit's core – Tabane was especially protective about this secret, even when she was with Ichika and Chifuyu…

* * *

The first I.S. theory class is finally finished, and now it's break. Ichika was fighting with sleepiness during the entire period, of course he already knew everything that Yamada-sensei was talking about, so his only task during that lesson was not to give his sister a reason to use her attendance book as a wake-up tool.

"Excuse me for a moment," Girl's voice pushed Ichika out of his slumber. Could it be that, among those 350 girls, appeared someone brave enough to actually approach and talk to Ichika? Ah, no, seemingly it's not the case now as standing before him was none other than the childhood friend he hasn't saw for about six years, Tabane's younger sister – Shinonono Houki. Not that they actually were good friends… As it was said, Ichika always was on good terms with Tabane, and Houki never was on good terms with her elder sister, even before the latter has invented Infinite Stratos. Shinonono sisters were just too different…

As such, Houki never allowed Ichika to become too close with herself, though the latter never actually tried, besides, Houki wasn't sure about her feelings towards Chifuyu's younger brother, she was sorta… afraid of him a bit. Maybe that's why Ichika haven't talked to Houki during last six years, despite he was communicating with her elder sister pretty often (Tabane had no habit of listening to authorities)… Still, right now Houki and Ichika have met again, after six years have passed, and they probably could exchange a few words.

"Is it OK if we talk in the corridor?" She asked.

Ichika looked around. "No," He replied, "There's too big audience out there, besides, I'm too tired to stand up from my stool…"

"You're intolerable as ever," Houki snorted with scowl, though she was always telling that she has born with that scowl.

"Not at all," Ichika replied. "This is simply a mathematics, look by yourself," He waved around the class.

Indeed, as soon as Houki approached Orimura and talked to him the entire classroom went silent, as well as crowd in the corridor. No doubts that everyone was eavesdropping.

"By the way..." Ichika decided to initiate the conversation as Houki was silently staring at him, not saying anything. "I've heard that you won the national kendo championship last year, right? Congratulations, good work."

"How do you know that?" She wondered.

" _She_ told me," Ichika replied as if it was quite obvious.

After Houki heard that, she suddenly jolted and her cheeks turned a bit red. "Nee-san?!" She exclaimed with mixed expression of surprise and anger, "How did _she_ know?!" Houki asked, clearly louder than needed, as if Tabane knowing that was a major crime.

"She was present among spectators," Ichika shrugged, "I can't believe that you didn't notice her, she's quite remarkable person, you know? Besides, how did this happen that you didn't invite her yourself?" He wondered, though Ichika knew that a certain thing happened between sisters and… well, they're not on best terms right now, to say the least.

"She was there?!" Houki really seemed surprised. "Wait?!" Suddenly she seemed to realize something, "How do _you_ know all that?! You're still communicating with each other!?"

"And why is this so surprising?" Ichika wondered. "I only wish you would talk to her at least us much as I do…" He was interrupted as bell that announced second period rang, thus saving Houki from necessity to answer.

* * *

"...thus, any basic I.S. maneuvers have to be authorized by the sponsoring country. If an I.S. is operated without permission, we're required to pursue criminal penalties..."

Yamada-sensei continued with the lesson ever so eloquently, while Ichika continued to fight with his drowsiness. To distract himself from boring lesson, he was thinking about his own being here, in I.S. Academy. _'Government (though I think it actually was nee-san's idea) insisted that I should live in I.S. Academy, like every other student…'_ They even promised to make certain adjustments to the infrastructure to make his life comfortable (and maybe they actually have hope to find few other men who can pilot an I.S…) As such, even though all rooms in dormitory are double rooms, they promised an individual room for Ichika. _'If so, I guess no one's gonna blame me if I'll refit my room as I see fit (sorry for tautology)…'_ Academy promised to deliver all stuff that he might need right into dormitory. _'No doubts they'll ask Onee-san for help, so I'd better write a list for her. As glorious, fierce and elegant she's on battlefield, she's a real sad sack in social life…'_

"Orimura," Sharp voice interrupted his social planning. "If you're not interested in lesson, go to the teacher's room and bring methodical instructions books for everyone in this class."

 _'Damn…'_ Ichika swore silently, as he couldn't argue here, he's been caught red-handed. _'Seems that Onee-san has some sort of radar in her head, she knows every time I'm thinking about her…'_ Since teacher's room was quite afar, Ichika barely made it back to class until the end of second period.

* * *

During the break after second period, most of Ichika's classmates gathered near classroom's windows and was talking among themselves… probably about him. Houki and few other girls were at their places.

"Excuse me, may I have a moment?" Someone who's voice Ichika didn't know talked to him. A girl who was clearly of Western, white-skinned descent was staring at him out of blue eyes framed by blonde locks. She didn't look happy. Her hair was slightly curled up, giving off a sense of nobility, and she radiated a superior demeanor that was becoming more and more common among women these days.

"Yes, is there something you want?" Ichika raised his head and looked at the girl.

The girl didn't seem satisfied with his reaction and deliberately increased her volume, as if Ichika was dull-witted. "What are you saying? You should feel honored just having the privilege of talking with me! Let's see you improve that attitude, hmm?"

Ichika turned away from her, "I'm no longer interested in talking to you, go away."

Blonde jolted as if she got her face slapped, "How dare you to speak to me in such a manner?!" Now she really seemed angry. "You don't recognize Cecilia Alcott?! You've never heard of the representative contender from England, and the top scorer on the school's entrance exam?!"

Ichika slowly stood up and looked at Cecilia. That was the first time when she could closely look into his eyes, and she instinctively made a small step back, because his eyes were thousand times colder than ice. "A bit slow, are we?" He said as if Cecilia was weak-minded. "I'll give you one warning then. Only those subservient to me are allowed to look into my eyes…" Saying that, he placed his right, ungloved arm on Cecilia's shoulder and pushed his hand down, slightly pressing on girl's shoulder. However, despite he applied quite small force, Cecilia lost her balance and fell on her ass, on the stone floor. As she was sitting on the floor and looking at Ichika with widened eyes, he said, "…I don't allow anyone to look down on me. Lower your head."

That was a dumb scene as most of spectators didn't even understand what exactly happened, everyone was just looking at Ichika and Cecilia in shock, but of course Cecilia was the most shocked here. _'What happened?!'_ She thought in disarray, _'It wasn't brute force, he just slightly pressed my shoulder, yet I fell on the floor?! What did he just do?!'_

"Orimura-kun?!" Yamada-sensei's voice sliced through silence, seemingly she and Chifuyu just arrived as third period should start very soon, "What's going on here?!"

Chifuyu walked into class right after Yamada, only to see the same dumb scene, with shocked Cecilia sitting on the floor and Ichika standing above her. "Everyone, on your sits," She ordered immediately, homeroom teacher decided to take control over situation, "Alcott, you too, go on your seat. Orimura, on a few words," She nodded towards corridor.

Cecilia, still in shock, slowly stood up and headed towards her seat. I.S. pilot or not, mentally she still was a typical hothouse aristocrat, a genuine ojō-sama, if you like, and something like that happened with her for the first time in her life. Ichika humiliated her in front of at least hundred other girls… Lowly male of lower class humiliated her – aristocratic woman and representative contender?! "HOW DARED YOU?!" She yelled when she finally come back to her senses, however, at this moment Ichika and Chifuyu already left the classroom, closing the door behind. She was so deeply shocked that she didn't even noticed that. In response for her yell, she only got worried sights from her classmates and Yamada-sensei.

The bell for third period rang. Yamada coughed twice, trying to get class' attention, however, her efforts were futile as everyone in the class (and not only in this class) was listening to quite loud conversation in corridor.

"Ichika, it's your first day here and you already started to make enemies to yourself?" Since Chifuyu called him by name seemingly she was scolding him not as a teacher, but as elder sister.

"Enemies? Don't be ridiculous, onee-san. I wish one of them would be brave enough to become my enemy, you can't but evolve without one, you know? But that won't happen, that you also know just as good as I am," Was Ichika's reply.

"You're moron. What happened between you two? Or humiliating women became your new hobby?" Chifuyu asked.

"Onee-san, don't say that, such a thing is against warrior's code," Ichika replied with tragic voice. *PANG* Seemingly, despite his abilities to dodge, Chifuyu managed to hit her brother with attendance book (or he didn't try to dodge…) "Hey, easy there! I'm telling you I didn't try to humiliate anyone, I just pointed to that arrogant girl where her place is."

At that moment, everyone looked at Cecilia, whose cheeks were pink from rage.

"You're not the one to talk about arrogance," Elder sister snarled.

"Neither is you. Besides, it has nothing to do with arrogance, it's a simple fact – heavens belong to gods and their bellowed, mere mortals should crawl on the ground," Brother replied.

*SIGH* Deepness of Chifuyu's sight could be heard even outside the I.S. Academy. "Enough of your nonsense, go back to class, and I don't want such a thing to happen ever again. Are we clear, Orimura?"

"Crystal clear, Orimura-sensei," Saying that, Ichika opened classroom's door and stepped in, being followed by his sister.

"Sorry for making you wait," Chifuyu said as she replaced Yamada at the front of the classroom.

"Ah… well… it's nothing, really," Yamada replied with uncertain smile, as she gave her place to Chifuyu.

"For the remaining class time, we'll be reviewing the types of equipment that can be used in actual combat and their characteristics," Apparently this was a particularly important lesson, as even Yamada took out a notebook. "But before that, we have to decide on the class representative who'll take part in the inter-class tournament."

Entire class perked up, seemingly it was quite important event. While Chifuyu-sensei was explaining details about class representative, Ichika continued to think about list of stuff he needs to be transported from his house.

"Sensei, I recommend Ichika Orimura-sama!" One of Ichika's classmates nominated him.

"I completely agree!" Another one exclaimed.

Here it is, vaunted women's solidarity. Despite that scene with Cecilia, overall opinion about him seemingly didn't change. Not only that, now they were even using honorific '-sama'… Messing with Cecilia actually made Ichika even more interesting? Looks like Ichika wasn't the only one who didn't like her demeanor. Okay, maybe that blonde really had it coming, but still… Or maybe, pretty and mysterious boy is just that valuable?

Ichika remained silent. Actually, he didn't want to become a representative, here, in I.S. Academy he wanted to focus on his piloting skills and I.S. theory. However, according to academy's rules, if someone nominated him he couldn't refuse. Well, as they say: if you cannot win – join. "Thank you all for your support," He said, standing up. "In my Junior High School, I was a student council president…"

"Really?!" "Oh, so nice!" "He's going to be one nice representative!"

"…Honestly, I didn't want to take a public position in High School, however, since it's only one class, I think I can do that… with your support of course," He added, bowing politely.

"Then Ichika Orimura will be the first candidate... is there anyone else? You can nominate yourself or another person. Either way is fine," Chifuyu said. "Are there any more nominations? If not, Orimura will be elected without a vote."

"It's decided then!" Exclaimed girl, which nominated Ichika first.

"He has a personal I.S. unit, which means he will be an excellent representative!" Few more girls shouted in support.

"Well, then I guess we should congratulate you, Orimura-kun…" Yamada-sensei tried to say but she was interrupted by an agitated voice.

"Hold on a minute! I refuse to accept this!" Cecilia shouted as she slammed her hands against the desk and stood up. "This outcome is totally unacceptable! The class representative should be chosen on skill, and having a _male_ as our class representative is disgraceful! Do you expect me, Cecilia Alcott, to endure this embarrassment for a whole year?"

"You ain't learning, are you?" Ichika slowly turned towards her and Cecilia could swear that his eyes flashed when he looked at her. Blonde gulped slightly, but she didn't back down, she definitely couldn't be called a coward.

"In terms of ability, it's obvious that I should be the class representative. I won't tolerate some far-east monkey being chosen just because he's a rare breed! I came to this island country to polish up my I.S. skills; I have no interest in joining a circus!" Blonde couldn't settle down. "…isn't that right!? Only the most talented should be the class representative, so I'm the most suitable one!"

Several girls looked at Ichika, probably they thought that he's going to run towards Cecilia and hit her. Besides, since about 60% of girls in this class were from Japan, some of them actually _wanted_ Ichika to hit that sassy blonde. Ichika, however, just smiled, though it more likely was grin of a tiger who was challenged by an antelope. "Why are you so wound up?" He asked calmly. "Bumping your ass on the floor turned you on so much and now you want more? If that's the case, just come here and I'll spank you, no need to insult foreign nation. I've heard there are many girls in your country with… unusual sexual interests…"

Most girls in classroom were giggling (and blushing slightly), looking at Cecilia. Blonde herself looked like she's going to explode.

"You… you… you…!" She was sputtering due to boiling fury, "ARE YOU INSULTING MY COUNTRY?!"

"No, I'm insulting you," Ichika replied calmly. Point of no return has already been passed, so he continued to talk. "By the way, your government still need a permission from Washington to make any major political decision?"

*SMASH!* Cecilia slammed her hands on the desk. That was it, Ichika definitely offended both her woman's pride and her national pride. "This calls for a duel!"

"Duel?" Ichika looked at her with interest, "You mean I.S. battle, not some weird British stuff? If so, I'm agree."

"Stop insulting my country!" Cecilia's anger hasn't waned a bit.

However, Ichika completely ignored her words. "Tell me," he indifferently asked, "Is that true that you possess a personal I.S. unit, specifically the one named ' **Blue Tears** '? Long-range, sniper unit?"

"Exactly! Now you understand with who you're dealing with?!" Cecilia exclaimed with satisfaction, seemingly she mistook Ichika's words as worry.

"Excellent, that's exactly what I needed," Ichika said as he seemed satisfied for some reason, "A sniper unit…"

Cecilia seemed discouraged. Just when she thought that she managed to scare that boy, he suddenly seemed satisfied somehow, and she had absolutely no idea why… ' _Does he has some trick in his sleeve? Besides, what's the meaning of that "Just what I needed"? No, it doesn't matter! I, Cecilia Alcott, will crush him!'_

Chifuyu-sensei clapped her hands to end this conversation.

"Then we have an agreement. The battle will take place next Monday in the 3rd arena. Orimura and Alcott, make sure you are well prepared. Now, let's get back to the lesson." Chifuyu was wearing quite strange face expression, and it definitely wasn't satisfaction.

* * *

After school, Ichika was still in his classroom. Stuttering, blushing and apologizing, Yamada Maya asked him to wait for her for a few minutes, until she would finish 'some preparations'. Situation hasn't changed one bit. Students from different years and other classes were still hanging around the classroom where Ichika was, but no one tried to approach him. Instead, they'd glance his direction and whisper things amongst themselves, punctuated by occasional fits of giggling. Any normal teenager would be driven mad by such an environment, but that boy seemed just fine. He was sitting as if there was no one around, polishing his fantasy-like sword's blade.

"Ah, Orimura-kun, you're still in the classroom? That's good," Yamada-sensei returned to classroom.

"I've just talked with minister of defense," Ichika informed her, continuing to polish his sword, "He assured me that everything should be prepared for me today. How's it going?"

"Ah… well… It's good to have government's support…" She again was stuttering, despite Ichika's voice was as polite as possible. "Your dorm's ready…" Yamada-sensei showed a key and a slip of paper with the dorm number. "However… you know… there's a favor we'd like to ask for…"

"Which one?" Orimura asked as he finally looked at his teacher.

"Despite you're going to live alone… we'd like to keep a second bed in your room… just in case…" Yamada replied.

"…in case there soon appear another male, capable of piloting I.S.?" Ichika guessed. "Government sure is optimistic… But I'm alright with that, spare bed shouldn't hinder me. What about my stuff?"

"I've already arranged everything. Be sure that you are grateful for this," Orimura Chifuyu intervened into conversation.

"I'm grateful to you," Ichika bowed slightly. Seriously, he was extremely grateful to his elder sister, with completely different reason, though.

"It's just some daily necessities. Some changes of clothing and a mobile phone charger should be enough to get by for now," Chifuyu noted.

"And that's the list of necessities from Orimura Chifuyu-sensei for you," Ichika sighed.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Chifuyu asked sharply.

"Nothing, I'm just saying that my list of necessities a bit bigger, though I'm not intending to burden anyone from academy with my stuff. I've already asked military transportation service to deliver things I need," Boy explained.

"Mm… Military transportation service?" Yamada asked uncertainly.

"No need to be surprised, as I've already told today, I'm a naval officer. Though I have no subordinates yet, I still have all the privileges that normal officer gets" Lt. commander shrugged.

"And what are those necessities I've overlooked?" Elder sister wondered with explicit sarcasm.

"My new Harman/Kardon 8.2 audio system and 16K HyperHD holographic display," Ichika replied.

"Can I ask how exactly you've paid for all that?" Chifuyu suddenly switched from 'teacher' to 'elder sister' mode. Without saying anything, Ichika showed her his brand-new personal credit card. "So they even paying you a salary? Does it mean that you're going to pay for all your expenses all by yourself?"

"But of course," Young man confirmed.

"Good to hear it," Elder sister replied. Though she hid it, Ichika knew that her mood raised up a little bit. "Then head to the dormitory and get settled in. Dinner is served in the first-year dorm cafeteria from 6 to 7pm. Each room has a shower, and there's a large public bath. The time to use it varies by school year... about which you still don't care, right?"

Ichika nodded to confirm elder sister's guess, "Besides, I can hardly imagine that academy would allow me to take baths with all those girls… I can imagine myself taking a bath filled with blood from their noses…"

"Orimurs-san?!" Maya literally jumped due to embarrassment and disgust as she heard Ichika's remark.

"You're nuts…" Chifuyu sighed heavily. "Anyway, let's call it settled. I have a meeting to attend to. Orimura, head straight to your dorm room, and don't wander about." Chifuyu switched back to 'teacher' mode, spun on her heel and marched out of the room.

"Um… good night, Orimura-kun…" Yamada-sensei handed over a key and a slip of paper with the dorm number and walked out of the classroom after Chifuyu. On her way out she shook her head, seemingly still trying to threw Ichika's saying out of her had.

* * *

April 11th, 7:52 AM

"Why didn't you join a kendo club in Junior High School?" Houki asked. She and Ichika was taking breakfast together, Houki's appeared to live in the room next to Ichika's – room 1026, and she also was living alone, at least for now.

"There wasn't a kendo club in my Junior High school, and I was unwilling to start one," Ichika replied. "Besides, I was interested in trying something that requires team play." As before, Ichika's table was attracting a lot of attention. Yesterday at dinner, at least fifty girls came to introduce themselves, more than half of them were third-years. Though, it doesn't seem to bother Ichika.

Though he and Houki didn't see each other for almost six years, it appeared that they didn't have too much to talk about. Right now, their conversation seemed quite awkward, or, more likely, Houki was feeling herself quite awkward. As it was said, she herself wasn't sure yet about her feelings towards Ichika. Yes, they knew each other from the very childhood, but there was always barely penetrable wall between Houki and Ichika – Tabane, Houki's own elder sister.

Chifuyu and Ichika's parents abandoned them when latter was three years old and former hit twelve few months ago. At that moment, Shinonono's parents kinda took them in. Being good friends with Chifuyu, Tabane tried her best to help her friend to raise her younger brother, of course, in her unique way. At Ichika's 4th birthday, approximately 1 year prior to invention of I.S., Tabane presented Ichika a toy, which appeared to be quite functional laser pistol. As Chifuyu and Tabane's parents snapped out of their shock, they were scolding her for several hours, but they only got Tabane's cunning smile in return. Hapless pistol has never been found.

The reason for Tabane's smile was disclosed when Ichika was in third grade, when it appeared that not only pistol was in boy's possession all this time, he also managed to reverse-engineer it, and made a long-barreled laser hunting rifle. He presented it to his elder sister at her 17th birthday ("go hunt for a boyfriend, Onee-chan!", young boy told her).

In the matter of pure fact, Ichika was a genius of the same caliber as Tabane herself, he just never was an 'inventor' type. Tabane's brilliant mind always was swarming with new ideas, but she never could work on the same idea for long, quickly becoming bored. Ichika, on the other hand, couldn't settle down until something hasn't been brought to perfection.

Returning to current events, Houki simply didn't know about what she could talk with Ichika. Seriously, she can't talk with him about weather, right? "So, what was you doing after I transferred from our old school?" She finally asked.

"Hmm? You mean my club activity?" Ichika wondered. Not that it was what Houki meant, it was what Ichika's been willing to tell. "Well, honestly, I quit kendo club almost right after you left. Instead I decided to practice with sword at home."

"Why?" That decision surprised Houki a bit.

"I felt that techniques used in modern kendo aren't for me. I know, your family is using them and even one-san is using them, but for me… I had a feeling that I'm missing something. I switched to _Hokushin Ittō-ryū_ kenjutsu, sword style founded in early 19th century. Adapting those old-school techniques for use with pretty non-allogeneic sword was quite interesting. Even playing football in middle school, I always could find time to hone my sword skills. Though, football was fun as well…"

"O-Orimura-sama, can we sit here, please?" Ichika's tale was interrupted as three girls approached his and Houki's table. All three were holding their breakfast trays as they anxiously waited for boy's reply.

"Orimura- _sama_?" Houki asked with scowl. For some reason that honorific was irritating her.

"Sure, have a seat," Ichika had no reason to refuse as he and Houki was occupying a six-seat table.

The girl who spoke heaved a sigh of relief. Behind her, two friends that were offering moral support looked delighted. Nearby, quite a commotion erupted. "Awww, I should have tried to talk to him earlier..." "It-it's just the second day. Nothing to panic over!" Etc. etc…

Girls filled up the three seats on the other side, opposite to Ichika. According to their neck accessories, girl on the right was second-year and other two were third-years. Girl on the right and third-year in the middle were looking quite alike, most likely they were sisters.

"Wow, Orimura-sama, you sure do eat a lot in the morning."

"Such a typical guy."

Ichika looked at them without enthusiasm. "Did you really come here to talk about food?" He wondered.

"Ahh… we…" "Well…" "You see…" Ichika's question made girls feel themselves awkward.

"You wanted to talk about my upcoming match against Ms. Alcott?" Ichika asked, intentionally using English honorific.

"Uh… yeah…" "We would like…"

"We'd like to offer you our help in I.S. training…" Third-year girl on the left finally said it.

"Hey, wait a minute…!" Houki's tried to protest, but Ichika raised his arm, prompting her to be silent.

"I thank you for your proposition, but I'm not going to do any special preparation for that match," Ichika replied.

"Ohh…" All three girls let oud sigh of disappointment.

"Don't you think that you're underestimating Cecilia?" Houki snapped.

"That's true, Ichika-sama," girl on the right agreed. "Cecilia-chan is an class A pilot, I've heard she even managed to defeat instructor during entrance test!"

"So did I," Ichika replied lazily.

"Really?!" Several girls from aside shouted at the same time. No doubt that entire canteen was eavesdropping to that conversation.

"But I've heard that only one student managed to defeat instructor!" Someone exclaimed.

"Maybe they meant only I.S. vs I.S. battles?" Ichika wondered, confusing everyone. "And, to clarify my statement, I'm telling you that I fought against I.S. with me being on foot, without I.S., and I emerged victorious," He added.

Another dumb scene with Ichika being the center of attention. Ichika knew perfectly how unbelievable his story was. Even though academy's entrance exam wasn't a full-scale combat simulation but a mere test, saying that you've defeated an I.S. without your own is just like saying that you withstood a direct hit from nuclear missile.

"I know that it's hard to believe, as record of my entrance test was classified for some idiotic reason, but I'm not going to convince you. Come at Monday to third arena, you'll see everything by yourself. Though I'm only interested in observing Ms. Alcott's I.S. unit in action, I'll still defeat her in the end," As he said that, Ichika stood up, preparing to head to the class as first period should begin shortly. "Don't worry about me, I am an S-rank, supercommando-level combatant. Aside from two people in this world, only I can defeat myself." With almost 100 girls watching at him in silent shock, he left the canteen.

As he was heading towards his classroom, he met some girl who was running towards cafeteria. Seemingly she overslept and now was running in hope to get at least something to eat. However, when she saw Ichika and understood who it is, she stumbled and began to fall. But, even before she stumbled, Ichika dashed forth and reached her just in time to prevent poor girl from falling on stone floor. His moves were so precise and elegant that it was like he just knew that she's going to stumble. "Ah?..." Girl yelped silently.

"Hey, do be careful," Ichika said, putting girl back on her feet, "Don't look around when running… though, you probably shouldn't be running in the first place…" As he said that he continued his way towards classroom, as if nothing happened.

"Oh, thanks, I… I'll be careful…" She thanked Ichika. "AH?!" Suddenly, she realized what exactly just happened. She was just 'saved' by that boy everyone's admiring, and he even touched her. Blushing, she touched her own shoulder, she could still feel warmth from Ichika's hand (no, of course she couldn't). She quickly turned around and ran towards cafeteria even faster than she was running before, not to eat but to tell her friends about what just happened.

* * *

After two boring lessons about I.S. theory, time finally came for a practice. Ichika never lacked confidence, and one of reasons for that was that he was never slacking on training.

He acquired his personal I.S. unit about one month ago and finished with its customization two weeks later. Since then, he used every opportunity to pilot his exoskeleton. Combining that with his pretty deep knowledge about I.S. he got from Tabane, we got pretty interesting contender. However, it definitely not enough to call himself a 'S-class pilot'. Does he possess some secret skill? At least, almost every girl from Ichika's class was thinking like that.

After Ichika showed several basic maneuvers to the class by Chifuyu's request, he retreated to far side of the arena to practice some advanced maneuvers. Cecilia got permission to do the same on the other side of the practice arena. From aside, Ichika's flying seemed quite good, but no one could say that it was too much better than Cecilia's. What's going to happen at duel?...

* * *

Inside the kendo dojo's changing room, Houki was changing out of her uniform. Despite she worked hard and was quite tired, she couldn't stop thinking about him. Today she asked Ichika for a sparring match with swords. And of course, she faced crashing defeat, despite her opponent wasn't even using his full power. His moves… they were so… elegant, so beautiful. It looked like he was flying, not mowing on foot.

In fact, she never managed to defeat Ichika, not even once, even when they were just kids. At first, Houki thought that it's just the difference between man and woman, but she never saw other boys defeating Ichika, either. In fact, they seemed even more desperate in front of him than Houki herself.

On the other hand, there's Orimura Chifuyu. Houki saw her many times training in the same dojo, which belonged to Houki's family, and she always though that Chifuyu's strength can rival that of a demon. So, probably, that's only natural that Ichika is as powerful as his elder sister. However, _'…if Orimura siblings are equal in their abilities then… why I'm so inferior to my own elder sister!?'_ Houki simply couldn't stop thinking about that.

 _'Still…'_ Houki finally threw away her thoughts about Tabane. _'Ichika… You have gotten so much stronger in the last six years, and you're so much cooler than other boys… Erk! That is, I mean… I'm not thinking that. He's just nice looking, that's all. Of course, he's a lot more mature than 6 years ago. Those unrelenting eyes of his… And he recognized me immediately after we met. I definitely have changed a lot since those days, yet he remembered me that easily…'_ For some reason, these thoughts made Houki happy…

Houki only knew it was Ichika by his name. If his photo hadn't been in the news reports, she probably wouldn't have recognized him (at least no untild she'd took a closer look – his eyes are of pretty unique coloration). She certainly wouldn't have known that her childhood friend had become so manly. To be honest, she even admired his physique. The moment she'd heard his name on the news, she dropped the bowls she'd been carrying. "Well, at least I managed to be alone with Ichika a bit," She smiled to herself, remembering today's sparring match. Suddenly, she saw her face in the mirror and twitched in shock. "Ohhh…" She sighed, feeling rather embarrassed about that naive expression on her face.

* * *

April 17th, 3:25 PM

And finally, that day has come. Week 2, Monday. The day of the match against Cecilia.

"Orimura-kun still isn't here?!" Yamada-sensei was all the nerves. Less than five minutes left before scheduled match start, Houki, Chifuyu and Yamada were here… but Ichika still hasn't arrived.

"Sensei, calm down," Houki tried to cool Yamada down. "I'm sure nothing happened to Ichika, he never comes beforehand…" Even in junior school Ichika was always coming one-two minutes before class should start, no more, no less… he never been late, though.

"True," Chifuyu nodded. "That insolent brat thinks that he's too good for that…"

Three minutes left. "Oh, you all came to support me?" Ichika's voice sounded from side corridor.

"Hmpf," Chifuyu snorted. "I'm here only to ensure that you won't do anything nasty during match."

 _'Charming as ever, onee-san,'_ Ichika thought. Of course he knew that his elder sister's rooting for him.

"Orimura-kun!" Yamada-sensei exclaimed with accusing tone. "Where're you been?! Why didn't you come earlier?!"

Ichika made his I.S. to display a clock, "I haven't come late, there's a whole three minutes until match. Why I'd need to come earlier?" Of course he knew what exactly Yamada-sensei meant, but teasing her was just too fun.

"Um… well… you could…" As expected, Maya couldn't find a logical reason why Ichika should've to show up earlier.

"You have to respect your seniors, idiot," Chifuyu once again attempted to hit her insolent brother with attendance book, yet he somehow dodged it, as if he knew how and from where she'll try to hit him.

 _'You ain't changing, onee-san, you're resorting to violence much too often.'_ Ichika sighed, as if he was the one to think like that… _'This is why you still don't have a boyfriend, even though you're as beautiful as you are…'_

"Hmph. If I didn't have to watch over this insolent little jackanapes, I could already have a boyfriend; no, I even could have already gotten married by now," Chifuyu replied as she again somehow managed to hear Ichika's thoughts.

"Ichika, there's less than two minutes!" Houki exclaimed. Unlike Orimura siblings, she seemed worried, not as much as Yamada-sensei though.

"Alright, alright, I'm going, don't pounce on me all together," Ichika said, outstretching his left arm. "Hear my call, Messiah!" Glove on his left hand began to shine, quickly engulfing Ichika's entire body with light. Second later light dissipated, revealing Ichika's I.S. unit, the **Messiah**.

Unit was mostly white with gold- and carbon-colored elements on its legs and upper body parts. Pilot's body was completely cowered with carbon-fiber armor, with white plate armor protecting outer sides of pilot's waist, shoulders and spine. Shoulderpads, common for most I.S. models, were missing, instead unit was equipped with six dragonfly-like wings, three per each side. Highest pair of wings also being the biggest, each wing was 2.5 meters long. Each wing in middle pair was 2 meters long and 1.5 meters for lower pair. Upper half of every wing was made of solid metal as lower half was made of glowing plasma, contained by some sort of energy field. Unit's legs did not have the foot stabilizers, common for other models. Pilot's head was hidden by carbon/gold-colored full helmet, which looked like eagle's head. White 'ankh' symbol was engraved on its forehead.

In his own mind, Ichika heard the voice of his I.S. unit: "Status: fully operational. Mode: standing by. Detecting a close by I.S. unit in standby mode. Registered pilot name: Cecilia Alcott. I.S. codename: ' _Blue Tears_ '."

"Oh, I guess she's eager…" Ichika commented as obviously Cecilia was already on arena.

"Ichika!" Houki suddenly exclaimed, "Win this!"

"Don't worry," He replied calmly, "I am absolute. My defeat is simply impossible." As Ichika said that, hangar's door opened and Ichika flew out to the arena. Just as his I.S. detected, Cecilia was already waiting.

Cecilia's machine, "Blue Tears", was bright blue and had four unique rear fins on the back armor, making it look royal and knightly. Cecilia was wielding a large, 2 meters long gun – long range, big caliber laser sniper rifle called "Starlight Mark III". "Oh, so you didn't run away," Cecilia snorted derisively and placed her hand on her hip, radiating that 'hime-sama' [princess] vibes again. No doubts her I.S. detected Messiah as soon as Ichika called for it, she just wanted to say something haughty.

The bell indicating the start of the match had already rung, however, Cecilia didn't attack yet, she seemingly had something more to say. "I'll give you one last chance," Cecilia pointed at Ichika with the hand that was on her hip; her other hand casually held the muzzle of her rifle, which was still pointed downwards. "It's obvious that I'll defeat you overwhelmingly. So if you don't want to find yourself battered to a pulp and pathetically begging for mercy, I may forgive you if you apologize now."

In response, Ichika outstretched his left arm. With flash of light, straight, Zweihänder-like 2 meters long sword appeared in his left hand. Sword's blade "opened", thus revealing its true form – a 'blade' made of white, glowing plasma (so-called 'plasma torch').

"So that's your plan? To challenge my long-range I.S. with a hand-to-hand weapon? What a joke!" Cecilia laughed, slowly raising her weapon. However, before she could understand what's going on, sword in Ichika's hand started to reconstruct itself. Within 0.715 seconds (according to I.S. timer) sword turned into three-barreled plasma shotgun. It wasn't reequipping, it was the same weapon that drastically changed its shape. Without saying anything Ichika pointed his gun at Cecilia and pulled the trigger. With whistling sound, Ichika's gun shot three bits of glowing white plasma, which merged into one larger bit. At the last moment Cecilia snapped out of her shock and dodged the attack, thus avoiding a direct hit. However, plasma charge exploded very close to her, damaging Blue Tears' shield and giving Cecilia herself a good shakeup.

"Defensive armor pierced. Damage: 31. Shield damage: 98. Shield Energy remaining: 552. Actual damage assessment: Low." Cecilia heard her I.S. report. "Estimating enemy's weapon. Codename: _Ragnarök_. Type: shape-shifting weapon. Additional data: unavailable."

"Shape-shifting weapon?! What is that?!" Cecilia never heard about anything like that. Though, she had no chance to think about that, as she heard her I.S. unit again.

"Warning. Enemy I.S. entering firing posture. Firing mechanism triggering confirmed. Energy shot incoming!" Another whistling sound, and another plasma charge was shot towards Cecilia. This time, however, she was ready and flew away far enough to avoid damage almost completely, second plasma blast barely scratched her shield, reducing it by 7, thus 545 points remaining. Seemingly, despite it was no longer a sword, Ichika's Ragnarök was still a close-combat weapon, because plasma charges' velocity was relatively low (about 330 meters per second).

Cecilia was enraged (she has quite a fiery temper). "How dare you to interrupt woman when she talks?!" She shouldered her rifle and shot. She appeared to be quite a good markswoman, Ichika could tell it just by observing that single shot. Her moves were quick and shot was precise, it was directed right into his face. Energy charge's velocity was very high as well, about 875 meters per second (about the same as of heavy sniper rifle that uses .50 BMG-type ammunition), and, unlike of normal gun, energy charge's velocity was the same during entire charge's existance. However, despite all that, Ichika dodged her attack completely as he leaned back.

"Too slow," He said, aiming his shotgun at Cecilia and making another shot.

"That's not all! Let's dance! Dance to the waltz that Cecilia Alcott and Blue Tears are playing!" Shot after shot after shot. Cecilia's attacks started to rain down on Ichika, and they were all fast and precise.

 _'Everything's going as planned,'_ Ichika thought, dodging one attack after another, and shooting back from time to time.

* * *

"No way! It was just like when he fought against me at entrance exam!" Maya Yamada was watching the live broadcast of Cecilia and Ichika's fight on the screen in the control room. "He's avoiding all Cecilia-chan's attacks… His reaction's incredibly fast!" 23 minutes of battle have passed, yet Ichika was barely scratched.

"…It's not because he's fast," Chifuyu said, as she also was watching the screen. "It's just that he _sees_ it."

"Sees?" Both Houki a Maya asked.

"Yes," Chifuyu confirmed. "His eyes can detect even the slightest movements. Breathing, heartbeat, sweat, muscle contractions, everything. When it comes to I.S. he can see stabilizers direction, thrusters charging, servos moving… even pilot eyesight's direction. Eyes that surpass I.S. hypersensors, miraculous eyes that can read any movement beforehand, they nullify both offence and defense, rendering evasive maneuvers and offensive tactics useless. He's not predicting Alcott's maneuvers, he's foreseeing them. Orimura Ichika can see future of his opponent's moves, simple as that." Did that sound proudly? Probably not, as Chifuyu was quite good at hiding her emotions, but still…

After Chifuyu's explanation, Houki and Maya's jaws were lying on the floor. "So… so… so this is why I never could even touch him when we were practicing kendo?!" Houki exclaimed. It was quite a revelation.

Chifuyu nodded, "Partially, but that's not all. Even if you can see future, it's of no use if you're not fast enough. You need appropriate physical abilities to keep up with the opponent, and Ichika have it." She even called him by first name, she's definitely proud. Yamada-sensei was still in shock, she seemingly couldn't comprehend how's that even possible.

Houki stared at Chifuyu. _'She and Ichika are siblings. Does that mean that she also possess the same eyes? The way she was talking about that, it seems unlikely, or she would probably have used herself as an example. But seeing her in dojo back than… She seemed invincible anyway. Is that possible that she's hiding some other unique ability?'_ She again looked at Chifuyu… no, she doesn't have a courage to ask teacher about her skills directly.

"What I don't understand… is what he's up to," Chifuyu said, probably to herself. _'If he wanted, he could defeat her within first five minutes. He's not the one who enjoys cat-and-mouse game. Why're you prolonging this match, Ichika?"_

* * *

 _'Dammit… He's much better than I thought!'_ Cecilia thought as battle definitely wasn't going in her favor. After 25 minutes, she already lost more than half of her shield (only 297 points remained, out of 650), and she already felt herself exhausted. Not that she was lacking stamina, that was the effect of moral pressure she was feeling. Her I.S. primary weapon – independent small-sized mobile weapon platforms, so called 'BITs' – proved to be completely ineffective. With his foreseeing eyes, Ichika always knew when and where they're going to shoot (though Cecilia doesn't know about his eyes). Missiles were too slow and their movements were predictable even without use of his eyes' special ability, it was easy to shoot them down with shotgun or even sword. The only weapon, which proved to be partially useful was her sniper rifle as she managed to scratch her opponent a few times; it has quite powerful charge that could cause damage even with glancing hit.

Still, Ichika's shield was 467 out of total 600 points, which looked quite grim as even if no one's shield will reach zero, officially it will be the draw, but unofficially the looser will be the one with lower shield percentage, and currently that is Cecilia. "This cannot be!" She exclaimed. "I am, Cecilia Alcott, the representative contender for England not going to lose to someone like you! Take that!" She again raised her rifle and shot twice, however, she definitely was losing concentration as her shots were less accurate than at the beginning of the match and Ichika easily dodged them.

Suddenly, everyone could hear Ichika's voice in open channel. "Alright, I guess I've learned everything I needed. Seems it's time for me to fulfill my promise," He added.

"What do you mean?!" Cecilia asked with frustrated voice.

"Hmm? Didn't I tell you? Oh, I guess I really didn't…" Ichika replied with false regret. "The only reason why I agreed for this match is that you have "Starlight Mark III", advanced energy sniper rifle. I wanted to learn about it, nothing more."

"Hmpf," In control room, Chifuyu snorted. "I knew that it was about something like that."

"What is it, Orimura-sensei?" Maya Yamada asked cautiously, as she wasn't ready for another shocking revelation just yet.

"As I told you, his eyes are capable of grasping everything with immense precision," Chifuyu replied. "This ability can be used not only to foresee future; he also can learn about things just by looking at them. He wanted to learn about Cecilia's sniper rifle… I had a feeling that he was somehow encouraging her to use rifle against him."

"Why he needs to know about Cecilia's weapon?" Houki asked in confusion.

"I don't like speculations," Chifuyu said, "But my guess – he wants to use that data to construct his own sniper rifle and add it as fourth shape of his I.S. weapon – Ragnarök."

"Orimura-sensei, your brother really is amazing!" Maya exclaimed sincerely. "To think that he could do all that on his own… wait!" She suddenly understood something.

Houki seemingly got the same idea, "Did you just said 'fourth shape'?! Does that mean that there's already third?!" Until now they only saw sword and shotgun.

In the meantime, on the arena, Cecilia was infuriated (again). "Don't say it like you could win any moment you'd like!" She shouted angrily.

"But that's exactly what I'm saying," Ichika replied indifferently. "Only two minutes left, there's no more time to play around, let's move to showdown. Come at me with everything you got."

"Shut up!" Cecilia shouted, commanding all four 'tears' to attack Ichika at the same time. However, he already learned everything about their movement patterns. Easily maneuvering between laser rays, he raised his shotgun. One… two… three… four… Four shots and all four 'blue tears' were destroyed. Ichika overturned in air and dashed towards Cecilia, accelerating. "Don't get close to me!" Cecilia seemingly panicked as she shot two remaining 'tears', which were homing missiles.

With remaining distance between him and missiles, Ichika probably would be unable to shot them both down with shotgun. At that moment, Cecilia thought that she's finally got him, however… Ragnarök once again began to reconstruct itself, splitting in half. Within 0.735 seconds, shotgun turned into twin plasma pistols, Ichika held one in each hand. Like a cowboy, he shot from both pistols at the same time, effectively shooting down both missiles simultaneously. Pistol charges were much smaller than that shot by shotgun, but faster (about 465 meters per second), it was mid-range combat weapon. "It… it can't be happening…" She mumbled. "No, I'm refuse to lose like that!" She raised her only remaining weapon, Starlight Mark III, but Ichika was too close for it to be effectively used.

Twin pistols quickly took shape of a sword and Ichika's I.S., Messiah, began to glow, activating _One Off Ability_ , **Paradise of Darkness**. It was a replica of **Byakushiki** 's _One-Off Ability_ – **Reiraku Byakuya** , which can negate the energy-based abilities of other I.S. units. Originally, **Reiraku Byakuya** was developed by Chifuyu's personal I.S. **Kurazakura** [Twilight Sakura] when it underwent the _second shift_. Using **Reiraku Byakuya** , **Kurazakura** (as well as **Byakushiki** ) could completely bypass any IS shield (which is the key defense in every I.S.) Since the attack would not be weakened, a single direct hit is often enough to force opposing I.S. to activate Absolute Barrier, effectively rendering the enemy energy-depleted. One of Chifuyu's trump cards, which made her a legend… **Paradise of Darkness** possesses the same capabilities to negate the energy-based abilities of other I.S. units, only difference is that it uses plasma-based weapons instead of energy-based ones.

Ichika sword's plasma blade began to shine much brighter than before. Due to very intense light, it seemed as if everything around darkened. From aside it looked as if sword was 'draining' light from its surroundings, probably that's why this ability got its name. "I'll teach you one thing, Cecilia," Ichika said, preparing for final attack. "Victory is everything in this world. Victor is acknowledged, and the vanquished is disavowed. Because I'm victorious over all, I'm always the just." Ichika executed the Ignition Boost, closed to Cecilia in a split second and performed kesagiri sword attack. As a last resort, blonde tried to parry that attack with her rifle, and succeeded. Her rifle was sliced in half, but she managed to prevent damage to her I.S., however, now she was weaponless.

That was the end. Ichika slipped beneath her, as his sword again turned into shotgun. Shotgun's barrel began to shine, as Ichika once again activated I.S. bankai… *cough* I mean, One Off Ability, Paradise of Darkness, attack which could pierce through enemy's I.S. shield. His weapon shot not three but nine bits of plasma, which didn't merge but flew forth like a shrapnel. Since shot was made almost point-blank, all nine hit the target. Overheated plasma bits pierced through Cecilia's shield, thus leaving her I.S. no choice but to activate Absolute Barrier, immediately reducing her shield to zero.

A buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the match. "Match concluded. Winner: Ichika Orimura. Match duration: 28:49." Since Ichika used Barrier Void Attack twice, his energy shield also dropped by about 100 points, and now he had 374 out of 600, but that was far above zero, which means it was a clear victory.

The trick was that Ichika's weapon, Ragnarök, uses so called 'Fold Out armor', special energy field, used to contain and control plasma. Sword blade's outlet emitter and guns barrels are made of Fold Out Armor, which is stable during normal operation. However, with activation of One Off Ability, plasma becomes much hotter; as such, power drain of Fold Out armor also grows a lot, to the point when it is much more than an I.S. can continuously supply so in order to maintain the ability, additional energy has to be converted from Messiah's own shield.

Anyway, that was Ichika's victory. Many girls were waving to him from 3rd arena's grandstand, and Ichika waved them in return.

* * *

"You insolent brat! You've wasted half an hour of my life's time by such a selfish reason?" Chifuyu never was one to mince words. Right now she was scolding Ichika for toying with Cecilia instead of quick victory. *Sigh* "At least you won. That's it for today then, head back to your room and rest." Of course, Ichika had no intentions to follow his sister's order, he wanted to go to engineering department and begin to work on new sniper rifle as soon as possible.

Chifuyu left, leaving her brother with Houki and Yamada-sensei, and both were behaving strangely. Former was staring into Ichika's face without blinking, and latter was using her arms to cower as much of her body as she could. The reason for that was that when Maya asked Chifuyu "Ichika's eyes cannot see through clothes, can't they?" She got an indifferent reply "No idea." That was a mistake, but maybe Chifuyu really didn't care about that, most likely she thought that "Even if my brother always sees me naked – it's his own problem." She never lacked self-confidence. For Maya, however, it was a reason for full-scaled paranoia.

"Is something wrong?" Ichika wondered.

"Uh… well… I…" Yamada stuttered, not sure how to ask.

Houki was much more straight-forward. "Is that true? That you can see future?" She asked without preamble.

"Chifuyu…" Ichika sighed deeply. "One day I'll put a mousetrap on that long tongue of yours, I swear…" He looked at two women in front of him. "She sang you an ode about my eyes, did she?" Houki and Maya nodded. Ichika sighed again, "Yes, that's true. My eyes can see future, as such, for me it is but a simple matter of changing it." He looked at Yamada, "But no, I can't see through clothes, I can't." Seemingly he guessed what was bothering green-haired sensei.

* * *

Hot water was flowing from the shower head, landing on her skin and flowing down the curves of her body. Her figure was unusually well-proportioned, a fact Cecilia was really proud of. Her long legs were silky and beautiful, so much so that they could compete with a model's, if not beat them outright in a beauty contest. Cecilia let the water cascade down her breasts as she pondered, while she was wandering in her own sad thought.

 _'Today's match…'_ She couldn't understand how such a thing could happen. She faced crashing defeat in front of entire school. It doesn't matter that match lasted for almost half an hour, seemingly it lasted that long only because Ichika was pursuing his own goals. She had no idea what he wanted from her rifle, but she knew that if Ichika would wanted only to win, without side goals, he'd win within first few minutes of their match.

She went into the match so sure that she would win, and she fought her best. Yet… such a horrible defeat. She couldn't blame Ichika. Was he just toying with her or he really wanted something, that doesn't matter anymore. He was simply much stronger, and that's it. This is why he won. _'In fact, he was amazing… those moves of his… they were so fast and precise…'_

Cecilia was reviewing her past. After her parents died in railroad catastrophe, Cecilia had a vast inheritance, and in order to protect the money from those who wanted to hoard, launder, or con her out of it, she threw herself into her studies. During an I.S. suitability test, which was part of her curriculum, she got top marks. Hoping to encourage loyalty to her country, the government made all sorts of generous concessions, and in order to protect her parents' inheritance, she agreed. Cecilia was chosen to be the first test pilot of the 3rd generation I.S. prototype, "Blue Tears". In order to get the best possible education and battle experience with the I.S., she came to the I.S. Academy in Japan, and then…

…then she met Ichika Orimura. Brother of first I.S. world champion, "Brunhilde", Chifuyu Orimura. Just as his sister, Ichika was beautiful, proud and powerful. She met the ideal man, with those dreaded eyes of his, which were like glowing with infernal light.

 _'Can I ever catch up with him? He was just training harder… or it's just the gap between levels of our inborn abilities?'_ Those thoughts were making her uneasy, she knew that people doesn't born equal. Her chest was overwhelmed with this… longing.

 _'Ichika Orimura… why are you so strong?...'_

* * *

And this is it for chapter One, thank you all for reading, don't forget to write a **review**.


	2. Between two battles

Hello again people! Here I am with second chapter. But first some talk with those who wrote a review

* * *

 **Swanboy:** Yeah, I know, I'm always a bit in rush, so misprints happen, sorry.

 **Jakeflado:** Well, of course my Ichika is much more insightful, but he won't let himself be charmed easily, that's for sure.

 **LabMember009Isaac:** As I said, it's about 45% of Akashi Seijuro,15% of Aomine Daiki, and rest are my improvisations.

 **Guest, DarkBladerZX:** Thanks guys, here's new chapter.

 **forsaken9:** Not entire GoM, only those two I've mentioned above.

 **Kobe11,** ** nihonto123: **Generally it's a harem story, but final pairing will be either TabanexIchika or weird triangle IchikaXTabaneXChifuyu.

 **Luo Hao, DanteNaru:** Thanks for your support people.

Now, let's proceed.

* * *

 **Chapter II – Between Two Battles**

…

April 21th, 11:15 PM

Three days have passed since that battle for 'title' of class representative. Since he won, Ichika became the class 1-1 rep and that case was settled for good. However, Cecilia couldn't just forget about it. Her defeat shook her worldview and even made her to rethink several things about her place in this world. And she wanted to talk with Ichika, the very man who turned her world upside down. Though, there was a little problem with that.

Cecilia was unwilling to talk to him during breaks between classes, because, in that case, half of the school will come to listen. And after classes he was like disappearing. He wasn't in his room as Cecilia checked many times, neither he was on any of academy's arenas. And no one seemed to know where he is, though not only Ms. Alcott was interested in that question.

Right now, Cecilia was waiting near Ichika's room, however, even though now was over 11 PM, he still didn't show up. "Cecilia-san," Someone called for her from behind. Blonde turned around, to see three girls standing behind her. The one who called for her was girl with sleepy eyes, dressed in fox-themed pajama with extremely long sleeves, which were obscuring her hands, her name was Honne Nohotoke or something like that.

"Oh, yes?" Cecilia asked a bit awkwardly, she wasn't expecting to see anyone here that late.

"You're looking for Ichika-sama?" Asked another girl, the one with jade-colored hair and she was wearing glasses.

"Um, yes," Cecilia replied, "Haven't you seen him?"

"No," Third girl, the one with two long ponytails, replied sadly, "We were looking for him ourselves."

"We wanted to invite him on party we're arranging to congratulate him with being elected as class representative," Honne explained, "But he told us that he's busy after class…"

"He wasn't showing up at dinner for last three days," Girl in glasses informed.

"What's going on here?" Door next to Ichika's room opened and Houki appeared on doorstep. She was wearing her pink sleepwear, but it wasn't looked like she was asleep and voices in corridor woke her up.

"Oh, Houki-san," Cecilia turned around.

"Houki-san, maybe you can tell us where Ichika-sama might be?" Brown-haired girl wondered.

"Why should I know?" Houki asked as she turned away with that 'I don't care about him' look on her face. Though, she quickly turned back and looked at girls with slightly worried sight. "Yesterday I asked him about what he's doing after class, and he told me that he's working with his I.S. in engineering department. Last night he came back to his room when it was already past midnight…"

"Ooohhh…" Three girls sighed simultaneously.

"Wait, Houki-san, how do you know that," Girl in glasses asked.

"Ah?! I, well…" Houki seemed slightly embarrassed as her cheeks slightly flushed. "I just stood up to drink some water and heard that his door opened… yes, that's how it was!" Seriously, how Houki could tell that she was worried about him and couldn't sleep until he came back?'

"Ichika-sama's working so hard…" Honne said with admiration.

"Why he's like that?" Cecilia asked. "He's an excellent pilot, he even won over me, Cecilia Alcott! He could relax at least for a few days, yet he's working with his I.S. as if he hasn't seen victories for a while."

"It's not that," Houki shook her head. "It's not like he wants to win over someone."

Other girls looked at her questioningly. Houki explained, "Once, in our junior school, when we were in third grade, in our kendo club, Ichika had two sparring matches against boys from fifth grade. He won both matches. After that I asked him, 'Are you happy about your victories?'" He told me: 'Houki, are you happy about breathing?... I need victories as much as I need air. Victories are part of me, like hands or legs'."

Girls were listening to Houki with their mouths open. "When they been left together, Chifuyu-san was working very hard… Looking at her, Ichika never let himself loose, either… Good night." Seemingly, Houki said all what she could, as she stepped inside her room and closed the door.

* * *

When Houki left, other girls also headed towards their rooms. Cecilia, however, wasn't satisfied, more likely, she was even more intrigued. Right now she was walking back towards her dorm room, carefully looking around (she wasn't sure that she's allowed to wander here in the middle of the night). Worst of all was that she wasn't actually sure – about what she wants to talk with Ichika. She rounded up the corner, and almost crashed into someone. She raised her head and realized that she's looking right into heterochromic eyes, which belongs to a man she was looking for.

"I-I-Ichi…" Cecilia almost screamed in surprise, but Ichika quickly closed her mouth with his palm.

"Don't scream," He shushed at blonde. "I don't want to wake up half of the dormitory, Chifuyu decided to stay in Academy for today's night, and she will be 'displeased' if such a thing happen. Understand?" Cecilia stared at Ichika for a few seconds, but then nodded and only after that Ichika removed his hand. "Why are you still not sleeping?" He wondered.

Despite Cecilia's fears, Ichika was talking to her pretty normally, which means that she probably can talk to him after all. "I… well…" She was still uncertain about what she's going to say, though, "I was looking for you… kind of…"

"Looking for me? What for?" He asked.

 _'Ah, come what may…'_ Cecilia finally decided. "I… well… I have reflected on my actions, and was quite ashamed for being so childish, so… I want to apologize for my behavior in class and during our match." Blonde heaved a sigh of relief, it wasn't easy for her to say but she did it, and felt herself a bit better.

"Apologies accepted," Ichika nodded.

 _'What? And that's it?'_ Boy's answer didn't satisfy Cecilia at all, and, seemingly, Ichika noticed that.

"Seems to me you did realize everything," Young man said. "That case was already settled on the arena, I'm not holding any grudges toward you" He added. "Back then, in class, you offended my pride and I never allow anyone to go away with that unpunished, whether it man, woman or child. However, we already settled it during our match," He explained. "Besides, thanks to you I acquired valuable data…"

"Oh, yes, about that…" Cecilia suddenly remembered something. "Before our match, you told me that you only agreed for that because I have 'Starlight Mark III'… Can you please… explain what you meant?" It wasn't just a cause to talk with Ichika more, young Englishwoman actually was curious about that.

Ichika looked at her with evaluating sight. "Well," He finally said, "It's not a big secret. Until now, my weapon was suitable only for close-to-middle range combat. I was working on creation of long-range weapon for some time, and thanks to data I've collected during our match, I'm almost done." He sounded thankful, but his eyes still were as cold as ice…

Though, Cecilia wasn't looking into his eyes right now. "Really?!" Her eyes widened. "You're able to create new weapons on your own?!"

"It's… more like modification than creation…" Ichika noted with strange face expression. "Besides, making a new weapon is one thing, but learning how to use it is completely different story, I never shoot with sniper rifle in my life…" He added, most likely his was just thinking aloud now.

Cecilia's eyes flashed with hope. "Then… Then... how about me teaching you to shoot?!" She asked, barely hiding her enthusiasm.

"You want to help me?" Ichika raised an eyebrow. "Honestly, I'd never expect _you_ to offer me your help…"

"Why not?!" Cecilia was almost glowing with excitement. "It's true that I didn't become a class representative, but you've proved your right for that title, and I'm still your classmate!" Seemingly, Cecilia herself didn't even notice that she again took that commanding pose, placing her hands on her hips, and began to radiate these princess vibes again. "It's a duty of every member of our class to help our representative in any way we can!"

 _'As if I'd believe you…'_ Ichika mentally facepalmed. No, he believed that she really wants to help him, he just knew that her reasons have nothing to do with being classmates. _'Still…'_ Ichika didn't need to imagine what's underneath her long dress as he already saw that girl in her I.S. suit. _'She's a true Englishwoman – blue eyes, blonde hair… She has splendid body. What an idiot I would be if I refuse?... Besides, even if nothing good come out of this, at least she'll help me with sniper rifle…'_ He looked at blonde, "Very well, you have my gratitude," Ichika bowed slightly.

"Alright, I'm glad we have an agreement," Cecilia tried to maintain neutral image.

"I still need to make few tune-ups, but I'm certain I'll be ready at tomorrow's evening," Ichika informed. "As for now, I'd suggest you to return to your room. If my sister catches us here…" Time was already past midnight, it was quite fortunate that their conversation didn't wake up anyone.

"Yes, that would be best," Cecilia agreed with formal tone, and both she and Ichika headed towards their respective rooms.

* * *

"Yes!" Blonde shouted delightfully. As Ichika already vanished from sight, Cecilia no longer needed to hold her joy. Everything turned out very good. She not only managed to talk to Ichika, starting tomorrow, she's going to be his _personal_ shooting instructor. _'Thank you mom for making me take those shooting lessons!'_

Silently singing some funny romantic song, Cecilia was walking back towards her room. She rounded a corner… and crashed into concrete pile, at least Cecilia thought so. "Ouch… ouch… ouch…" She was moaning, rubbing her forehead and trying to stand up from floor "What the…"

"Alcott," Deep and sharp voice said, freezing Cecilia's blood in her veins, "What are you doing here?" It was Ichika's sister, she was dressed into nightgown, and her hair were loose but she still was frightening as ever. Unlike students, teachers usually live in their own houses in city, however, being the dorm supervisor, Chifuyu sometimes was staying for night in academy, usually several times per semester. And tonight was one of those nights…

Blonde slowly raised her eyes and her and Chifuyu's sights met, and Cecilia felt like she was looking into the eyes of she-dragon. "Ah… well… I was just…"

Chifuyu ignored Cecilia's pathetic attempts to invent some excuse. "Why are you still not sleeping? Students aren't allowed to walk around dormitory in the middle of the night without necessity," Dormitory supervisor stated. Chifuyu grabbed Cecilia by her collar and placed her back on feet as if she weights nothing. "Go back to your room, we'll talk about it tomorrow."

"Yes ma'am…" Cecilia mumbled plaintively. Chifuyu continued to walk towards wherever she was going, and blonde stumbled along corridor towards her room. _'What's with people's eyes in that family?!'_ Cecilia thought indignantly.

* * *

April 22th, 7:55 AM

On the next day, Ichika was having breakfast with Houki. As usual, about fifty other girls were observing them. As usual, Ichika didn't care.

"Hey, Ichika…" Houki asked shyly, "Would you mind to come to our kendo club today after classes? I'd like to train with you…"

"Um, sorry Houki but I can't," Ichika refused politely. "After class I'm going to engineering department, I still need to tune up few things, and after that I'm resuming my I.S. training. From now on, I'm going to spent every free moment polishing my piloting skills."

"Don't you think it's a bit too extreme?" Houki wondered. She looked disappointed, but seemingly she actually was expecting a reply like that.

"Not at all," Ichika replied. "I won against Cecilia, yes, but I won only thanks to my eyes. She may be a good markswoman, but in terms of piloting I.S. as a whole she's just a rookie pilot, who got her personal I.S. only few weeks ago, just like me. I didn't win because I was using more advanced tactics and more complex maneuvers than she, I simply used my eyes and technical advancements of my I.S. That's unacceptable, besides, even using my eyes I couldn't avoid all her attacks, which means my synergy with I.S. is far from perfect," Ichika stated.

What he said wasn't an exaggeration. I.S. battles are incomparable with football matches or kendo sparring. There are very little rules, and opponents are free to use any tools, including smokescreens. Intensive smoke can severely obscure visibility, thus severely reducing Ichika's advancements. Besides, more experienced pilot could simply outmaneuver him and lure into disadvantageous situation. Eyes never was Ichika's only weapon, and I.S. piloting shouldn't be an exception.

* * *

April 22th, 6:07 PM

Time was about 6 PM, Cecilia came to third arena. Ichika was already there, waiting for her. "Uh… Sorry, I'm a bit late…" Blonde said with apologizing tone. Today, after classes, she got all that she deserved for her yesterday's stroll midnight …

"No, it's okay," Ichika replied. "I've just came myself." To avoid an awkward silence, he decided to take initiative, "Alright, no time to waste, let's get started."

"Okay, but, Ichika-san, my weapon… it wasn't yet repaired after our match," Cecilia informed. True, Ichika sliced her rifle in half at the end of battle.

"No biggie," Ichika replied. "I'd prefer to use my own weaponry anyway," He said, raising his left arm. White light engulfed Ichika's body as he summoned his I.S., **Messiah**. In his left hand, Ichika held his weapon, **Ragnarök** ; right now it was inactive and looked like 2 meters long European sword.

Cecilia did the same, and summoned her I.S., Blue Tears, and now she was staring at sword in Ichika's hand. "So this is your weapon, 'Ragnarök'?" She asked.

"Yes," Ichika replied. "Though, Ragnarök is its generic name, which needed to summon it. Each form of this weapon has its unique name, and you need to focus on that name to activate desired form."

Ichika raised his sword and its blade opened, revealing its true form – white, long plasma torch. "First shape – plasma blade, the ' **Redeemer** '."

He lowered sword and pointed it forward, as blade quickly transformed into three-barreled shotgun. "Second shape – plasma shotgun, the ' **Arbiter** '."

Then boy raised his right arm, and shotgun split in half, transforming into twin pistols. One in his left hand was white and one that appeared in his right hand was carbon black. "Third shape – twin plasma pistols, ' **Ebony** ' and ' **Ivory** '."

Ichika mowed his arms closer to each other as pistols merged and quickly took shape of long-barreled sniper rifle. It had triangular barrel, formed by three 'rails', which were connected with each other by eight 'bridges'; rifle's length was about 85 inches. "And the latest addition – fourth shape – plasma sniper rifle, the ' **Ambassador** '."

"What's with these names?!" Cecilia asked in slight shock, even for her tastes those names were too pompous. Besides, she couldn't say that she liked weapons design – explicit 'robotic', metallic forms with aggressive angular shapes. But at least she now knows about Ichika's tastes.

"Let's give it a try, shall we?" Ichika shouldered his new rifle, trying to remember how Cecilia was doing it during their match, though he never was good in making exact copies. When he started to take aim, optical sight extended itself, and began to project holographic image. Ichika pulled the trigger. Everything happened within 0.1 seconds. Riffle's barrel extended itself for about 8 inches, and rifle shot bright, white charge of plasma.

With very high velocity (1025 meters per second), plasma charge reached arena's opposite wall within less than 0.2 seconds, and produced powerful plasma blast on hit.

"Wow!" Cecilia exclaimed. "And you constructed this weapon all by yourself?! Just by observing my 'Starlight Mark III' in action!?" It wasn't a small feat, and this rifle's charges were faster and more powerful than of Cecilia's own weapon.

"Pretty much so," Ichika nodded as if it was nothing special. He looked at his rifle, "Okay, that should do it." He summoned holographic target, and looked at Cecilia, "Shall we begin?"

"Alright," Blonde nodded, "For a start, let's practice with your position. Take a firing posture," She requested. Ichika did as she said. Cecilia examined his stance. "Alright, let me think for a moment…" Since Ichika was a left-hander, she needed some time to adjust her own stance to fit him. "Okay, I got it…"

* * *

Time was about 10:30 PM, Ichika was standing in front of door into his room, he was trying to find a keycard in his pocked. "Ichika!" Suddenly, he heard quite agitated voice from neighboring room. Moment later, door into room 1026 opened and Houki appeared on doorstep, "I demand an explanation!"

Ichika met her burning sight with pretty cold gaze. "Houki, didn't I tell you already? Only one woman in this world is allowed to raise her voice on me, and she's not you. What do you want?"

Cold greetings didn't take Houki aback, that girl's really incorrigible. "Other girls told me that you were training on third arena with Cecilia Alcott! Is that true?!"

"Yes, she offered me her help with getting use to my new sniper rifle, she's very good at shooting, and it would be foolish to refuse," Ichika replied with neutral tone.

"Why… why didn't you…" Houki tried to ask something, and her cheeks began to blush.

"Why didn't I ask you?" Ichika decided to help her. "Well, first obvious reason is that I was practicing shooting and you never were holding a gun in your entire life."

"Ugh…" Well, that was true, and Ichika's argument sounded quite cogently. But Houki wasn't ready to give up yet, "But you also need some training with sword, right? I could help you with that!"

"Yes, I need sword training and you could help me, but that leads us to our second obstacle – you don't have an I.S. Get one, and I'll accept your help with gratitude," Ichika replied.

"Hmpft!" Houki snorted, "Unlike some people, for the rest of us it's not that easy to acquire a personal I.S!"

"I know," Ichika replied calmly. "For the vast majority of people in this world, getting a personal I.S. is simply impossible. However, for Shinonono Tabane's own sister it's extremely easy. All you have to do, Shinonono Houki, is to step on the throat of your stubbornness, and make a call."

"Hmpft!" Houki snorted again and turned away with that 'you have no idea what are you talking about' face expression, stepped into her room and forcibly closed the door behind herself.

"It won't be easy, Tabane-nee…" Ichika sighed before opening door into his own room.

* * *

April 26th, 10:22 AM

"Well then, let's start practicing some basic IS maneuvers. Orimura, Alcott, deploy your I.S. units," Chifuyu commanded. It was near the end of April, the time when the late-blooming Sakura petals were falling. Today was another practice lesson, entire class gathered on field.

"Yes, ma'am," Cecilia replied. In standby mode, Blue Tears was an earring in her left ear. Earning flashed, bright light quickly engulfed her body and second later she appeared with her I.S. deployed. All Cecilia's equipment, including rifle and mobile lasers, once again were fully operational.

"Hurry up, Orimura! A properly trained pilot doesn't need more than a second to deploy the I.S!" Chifuyu hurried up her brother who still didn't deploy his exoskeleton. Though he was slow not due to lack of abilities, but due to lack of motivation. Since their first practical lesson, Chifuyu was using her brother and Cecilia to demonstrate I.S. maneuvers to other students, and for Ichika it was quite bothersome. But sister from hell never listened to his complains about that he need to practice shooting or advanced maneuvers, saying that demonstrating moves to other students are duties of those who have personal I.S.

"Yes ma'am," Though Ichika hid his lack of enthusiasm. He clenched his left, gloved hand and light engulfed his body, moment later he stood with his I.S. deployed.

"Now, take a fly!" Chifuyu ordered. Cecilia responded to teacher immediately. She activated her thrusters and quickly began to ascend. Ichika followed her, trying to maintain formation.

"What are you doing, Orimura?" Ichika heard his sister's voice over com channel. It was private channel so Cecilia and other girls couldn't hear her voice. "According to the specs, your I.S. has higher power output than Blue Tears. Weren't you the one who was bragging about that thanks to your and Tabane's manipulations you now owe world's first 4th generation I.S? If so, shouldn't it be far superior to all other in terms of general specs?"

"Onee-san, you should know better than anyone else that I'd never reveal all my secrets at the very beginning," Ichika replied. Since it was private channel he didn't call his sister 'sensei', "Right now I'm flying using only normal thrusters. When time's come, I'll show to everyone the true power of Messiah. Besides, I still need to optimize plasma thrusters output, and making test flights with that crowd beneath me is dangerous."

"Understood," Chifuyu replied. Surprisingly, but she seemed satisfied with Ichika's reply.

* * *

To be honest, Ichika's personal I.S., the **Messiah** , has quite complicated history. Initially, it was a conceptual prototype, called **Hakushisaku** [White Prototype], developed during the early stages of research about the very possibility of creating 4th generation Infinite Stratos. Thus, it was considered to be Generation 3.5. One of the main goals of developing 4th generation was creating a unit that could use a One Off Ability without the I.S. going into Second Shift. However, **White Prototype** was discarded when a serious defect in its experimental design was discovered, therefore posing a roadblock in the research and development of the 4th generation.

However, Shinonono Tabane retrieved the scrapped flawed machine, fixed the defect, and gave it a new core. She then enhanced the prototype by installing experimental Fold-Out Armor, the fruits of her own research, onto the prototype's weapon. After all that manipulations, prototype was named **Byakushiki** [White Expression] and given to Ichika.

But that wasn't the end of story. As soon as Ichika got **White Expression** , he began to reverse-engineer it, looking for ways of further improvements, after all, further development of others' ideas was his specialty. He completely redesigned pilot's suit, turning it into carbon and white colored full body suit, redesigned its helmet, completely remaking sensors array to fit his own needs – he was thinking about I.S. potential capabilities since he was nine or even eight years old, after all, so he already had quite enough of ideas.

Unit's main reactor was upgraded with cold plasma coils, fruits of Ichika's own experiments with plasma technology. Honestly, Ichika could be called a big fan of plasma tech, as he used it everywhere, wherever it was possible.

And finally, he removed both shoulderpads, replacing it with six wings. Each wing is capable of extending Fold-Out Armor, and contains a plasma bank. That plasma could be used for additional acceleration or directed into weapon, increasing its output without need to overheat weapon's own plasma accumulation chamber, thus increasing weapon's damage without use of One Off Ability. However, when plasma is directed into weapon it can't be used for acceleration.

But of course, Ichika's main achievement was a complete rebuild (actually, that was more like replacement than rebuild) of **Byakushiki** 's weapon, **Yukihiria Nigata** [Snowflake Type II], into his signature, shape-shifting weapon, **Ragnarök**. After all that, I.S. was renamed for the third, and hopefully, last time, as it got its current name – **Sukūyomo** [The Messiah]. Of course, there are still potential for further upgrades, but for that Ichika really needs more experience both as pilot and as engineer, and his unit needs more operating data. But even now, it was an astonishing I.S. unit. In matter of pure fact, Ichika got true 4th generation unit, capable of temporary sacrificing its speed and agility, and even its own shield, to increase its attack power. **Messiah** is a pure assault unit, designed to obliterate the enemy at all costs.

* * *

"Orimura, Alcott, execute a power dive and then come to a complete halt, hovering 5 inches above the ground," Chifuyu commanded. Seems time for flying has come to an end. As Ichika and Cecilia descended, class gathered around them.

Ichika glanced at Houki. She definitely looked displeased, unlike Cecilia, who was in pretty joyful mood. She and Ichika was flying for about half an hour, demonstrating various maneuvers, with all other people far down on the ground. Some interruptions via comm link doesn't count. Houki definitely was envious. _'Keep it up, Houki,'_ Ichika thought with sly smile, _'Sooner or later you will break, and call for help…'_

Not that Ichika was using Cecilia to provoke Houki, though. That young blue-eyed blonde was interesting woman by herself, and Ichika was interested in her. Not much yet, of course, for now he was still estimating possibilities, but still. Provoking Houki was just a convenient side effect. By the way, Houki was also quite nice and feminine, and her breasts was almost as bit as _hers_ … though, Houki also has a big flaw – her ill temper.

Time has come for weapon demonstration. Ichika and Cecilia both had their I.S. undeployed, and now they were standing near Chifuyu, heading toward class.

"Now, Alcott, deploy your weapon. You can deploy your weapon alone, right?" Teacher asked.

"Of course, ma'am!" Blonde reported. She raised her hand to where her shoulder was, and then stretched her arm to the side. A sudden burst of light jumped to her hand, and with just that, she was holding the **Starlight Mark III**. she was quite fast, and her gun was already loaded. Cecilia just had to look at it to remove the safety. Within one second, she had deployed her weapon and was ready to shoot.

"That's what I'd expect from a representative contender, but you've got to change your pose," Chifuyu noted. "Who're you aiming at when you're pointing that gun of yours to the side like that? Try and point it at the front immediately when you deploy."

"But, I need to stand like this for my image…" Cecilia mumbled.

"Change it! Do you understand?" Really, making Chifuyu to raise her voice…

"...yes, ma'am." Cecilia looked like she wanted to argue, but she shut up immediately after Chifuyu glared at her. Looks like we just trained one good soldier!

"Orimura, your turn. Deploy your sniper rifle," Chifuyu ordered, "You have it ready, do you?"

"Yes ma'am," Ichika said as he took firing pose Cecilia showed to him, he stood as if he was already holding rifle. Beam of light quickly formed a sword in his left hand, and sword quickly reshaped itself into plasma sniper rifle with long, triangular barrel. Entire operation took about 1.2 seconds.

Cecilia's **Starlight** looked quite light and elegant. Ichika's **Ambassador** , on the other hand, seemed massive and heavy, but it didn't seem like he had any troubles holding it. "Well, your pose is good and aim seems steady, but you took too much time. Skilled pilot should be able to summon his weapon within half a second."

"I know ma'am, I'm still thinking about way to summon my weapon already in desired form," Ichika reported.

"Think faster," Elder sister demanded.

By the way, Ichika was explicitly respectful towards Chifuyu not because something happened between them. He really respects his elder sister a lot, and he wanted to be a role model for others. Even during boring theory classes, when Chifuyu was speaking – he always listened, simply because in this world there's no better I.S. pilot than his elder sister. Hopefully, Maya Yamada won't be offended, because she never could get such an undivided attention.

"Now, Cecilia, deploy your close-range weapon," Chifuyu ordered.

"Wha? Ah, yes, yes!" Surprisingly, Cecilia became a bit startled when she heard the order, she seemed to be grumbling about something and her answer came more slowly this time. The gun in her hand dissolved into light particles, and then, she 'deployed' a new close-ranged weapon. However, the glow in her hand couldn't shape itself and just floated around in the air.

"Huh?" "Isn't it ready yet?" "What's going on?" Other classmates were quite surprised, but Ichika knew what's the problem. Just like during their match – Cecilia panicked when Ichika assaulted her in melee – she was afraid of close combat.

"It, it'll be ready soon…" Cecilia almost cried, "…ahh, damn it! **Interceptor**!" She reluctantly shouted out her weapon's name. That helped her to regain focus, and the glow finally shaped itself into a combat knife-like weapon. The preface of the textbook mentioned that shouting your weapon's name is a "beginner's method". For a representative contender like Cecilia to deploy her weapon this way must be really humiliating.

"How long did that take? Do you want the enemy to wait for you in a real battle?" No mercy from Demon Teacher from Hell, aka Chifuyu Orimura.

"In… in a real battle, I wouldn't allow the enemy to enter my range! So, so there would be no problem!" Cecilia tried to justify herself.

"Oh, really? If I remember your match against Orimura correctly, he got close to you quite easily, thus forcing you to use your main weapon for defense and lose it," Chifuyu reminded.

"Th-That, that's because..." Cecilia was starting to sputter again. She didn't know how to respond to Chifuyu-nee, and completely lost her ability to speak clearly.

 _'I guess I'll be needing Houki's help after all…'_ Ichika thought.

* * *

April 29th, 8:11 PM

Time was about 8 PM. "So this is it – the I.S. Academy…" That night, a petite girl with an enormous Boston bag, disproportionate to her size, stood in front of the I.S. Academy Entrance. Her pretty brown hair was tied with yellow ribbons into two long ponytails on either side of her head, and she wore a matching yellow hair band. The two ponytails flowed around her in the warm April breeze. "Now, where's the reception counter?"

She's been told to find General Assistance Counter, however, no one explained to her how to find it, and I.S. Academy was rather big facility. "Ah demit! I just have to find it myself, right? So be it!" She was the type of girl to "act first, think later". At first glance, the girl could be mistaken for Japanese, but on closer inspection it was clear she wasn't. Those sharp, beautiful eyes of hers were unquestionably Chinese. She was a foreigner, though Japan was like her second homeland: a familiar, comfortable place full of fond memories.

She continued to walk through these unfamiliar surroundings, looking around for someone to help her, _'Isn't anyone around? A student or teacher or someone? Can't anyone guide me?'_ But campus lights were already out, the teachers had gone home, and the students were already in their dorms.

For a moment, she thought about deploying her I.S., but she quickly discarded that idea, as using I.S. here, even before she was officially transferred to academy, might cause diplomatic consequences. _'Those damn adults… always thinking about themselves, sending me here all alone!'_

She had always hated adults who "flaunt their seniority", so she was quite comfortable with her position in society now that she had an I.S. _'Men pushing people around just because they have muscles is just childish. A lady's I.S. is real power.'_ She had also always hated boys who were full of themselves and treated girls like dirt.

However, he knew one boy who was different. He was very proud, but she never saw him bullying anyone, or starting strife. He possessed something that looked like 'true' nobility – he was very protective over his own pride, but he'd never hurt others' pride without reason. That one boy was the primary reason for her return to Japan. _'I wonder how he's doing right now?'_

At the moment, she heard something, and looked to see what it was. Two students were coming out of an I.S. training facility. She recognized it because I.S. facilities in every country look similar. _'Great, finally someone I can ask for help!'_ The girl strolled toward the arena entrance to talk to those two.

"…No, main reason is that you're misunderstanding the very idea of close combat," Said someone.

That voice stopped the girl in her tracks. It was a guy's voice – one that sounded very familiar. Soft and not loud, but with steel confidence within every sound. _'Surely it is his voice!'_

Due to possibility of an unexpected reunion, girl's heart started racing. ' _Will he recognize me? He should! It's only been a year.'_ She became preoccupied with the possibility that he wouldn't recognize her. ' _No, it's all right. It's all right! If he doesn't recognize me, that just means I've gotten prettier! Yeah!_ ' She pushed herself to think ultra-optimistically, and started walking toward the pair again.

"I understand, Ichika-san, but I've never used a melee weapon in my entire life!" Quite high female's voice replied. "It's not easy to learn such a complex technique from the beginning."

"Cecilia, being capable for both close and ranged combat is a crucial skill. Achieving good results in this world never been easy, and unlike most of people here, you know about it first handedly, am I right?" Young man's voice noted. Their voices were becoming quieter as pair was heading towards big building on other side of big pond.

 _'Cecilia?! It's not a Japanese name! Who's that girl?! Why do they seem so familiar with each other?! They're even calling each other by their first names!'_ Girl's racing heartbeat vanished as if it had never been, and was replaced by a cold fury, as if an avalanche had flooded her veins with frustration.

After that, she found the General Assistance Counter almost immediately, since it turned out to be behind the arena and was still well-lit. "Your papers look good, and the enrollment procedures are complete. Welcome to I.S. Academy, Lingyin Huang-san," Receptionist said friendly.

But Lingyin wasn't happy at all. "Which class is Ichika Orimura in?" She asked gloomily.

"Oh, the famous kid? He's in class 1-1. Huang-san is in class 1-2, so you're in the class next-door. Oh yeah, he's also class 1-1's representative. But then, what else would you expect from Orimura-sensei's younger brother!" Lady explained with smile.

"See you soon then, Ichika…" Lingyin smiled darkly.

* * *

"Ichika-san, congratulations on becoming the class representative!" Cecilia exclaimed.

"Congratulations!" the class shouted. Honestly, some people were surprised to see Cecilia here as she was competing for that title and lost. However, most of people rightly saw it like strength of her spirit.

 ***POP!* *POP!* *POP!*** Noisemakers popped from all directions, and the colored ribbons landed on Ichika from all directions. Honestly, he'd prefer to spend this time in engineering or on arena, but today all documents were signed and he officially became the representative of class 1-1, so he could no longer avoid that party. The whole class had gathered in the first year's canteen, everyone had some kind of drink or snack, and the atmosphere was rather animated.

"The class representative tournament will be so much more exciting now!"

"That's right, that's right!"

"We're really lucky to be in the same class as him."

"That's right, that's right!"

Well, Ichika proved his strength, and all his class was quite confident in him. By the way, here also were girls from class 2… Naturally, there are definitely more than 30 people here. In fact, when class 1-1 gets together, there are always more people than actual quantity of pupils in class.

"Ichika Orimura. Mr. Popularity…" Houki glared at her childhood friend and took a sip of her drink. She was in a bad mood again…

"Excuse me! Look over here! I'm from the Newspaper Club. I'm here to get a scoop on the hot new freshman: a special interview with Ichika Orimura-kun himself!" Shout came from girl with blue eyes, glasses and dark pink hair attached in a short ponytail.

"Oooh…" "What?" "Oh!" Everyone seemed thrilled.

"I'm Kaoruko Mayuzumi, nice to meet you. I'm the vice president of the Newspaper Club. My card." She handed a business card to Ichika. "Then, then, Orimura-kun! Please tell us your thoughts on becoming the class representative." She tried to stuck a voice recorder right into Ichika's face, but he intercepted her arm and now was holding it at some distance. Still, reporter's eyes were shining like a little kid's waiting for cotton candy.

Honestly, Ichika was among those who thought that 'silence is golden' in most cases. However, as a former student council president, and captain of a football team (which won national tournament), he got used to interviews.

"Well," Ichika stood up, "I think that being a class rep is a good opportunity for everyone, not only me, to increase their I.S. piloting level. However, Kauroko-sempai, the luckiest one in this situation is you and your newspaper," He politely smiled to journalist.

"What you mean?" Mayuzumi seemed surprised.

"I mean that with me being a class representative you already know the victor of all interclass tournaments for the next three years, so you can write about all matches beforehand," Ichika smiled again. Burst of laugher shook the entire canteen.

"Excellent!" Journalist exclaimed, she seemed excited about Ichika's joke, readers definitely would like him. He just continued to smile politely, though it wasn't a joke and soon all these girls will learn about it. Actually, he said approximately the same phrase when he became football team's vice-captain in his first grade of middle school…

After everyone calmed down, reporter turned to Cecilia. "What about having Ms. Alcott say a few words?"

"I don't really like giving interviews, but I suppose I must." Though she was grumbling, she doesn't look bothered... and she's already standing over there, ready to go. "Ahem. First, I, Cecilia Alcott, the I.S. representative candidate, will make a statement. It was…"

"Ahh, if this is going to take a while, just forget it," Reporter rudely interrupted her. "How about I just take a photo?"

"You…you… What will you print if you don't hear my eloquent statement?" Cecilia asked a bit resentfully.

"It's no problem; I'll just make up some content," Mayuzumi replied carelessly. "For instance, let's assume that you like Orimura-kun."

"Wha, wha, what...?" Cecilia's face went from normal to blushing bright red in about 0.001 seconds. "What's this nonsense you're spouting?"

"Seriously! Your secret love for Orimura-kun? That would be a great scoop!" Journalist suddenly became very enthusiastic. Ichika just remained silent, he never cared about such pitiful things. Besides, he got a feeling that Cecilia actually liked that 'secret love' idea. "Okay okay, now, both of you, please stand together! I'm going to take your photo!..." However, at this point Ichika completely lost interest in everything what was going on, though the "Ichika Orimura Class Representative Celebration" lasted until past 10 PM. It's good that Chifuyu decided to go home today…

* * *

April 30th, 8:31 AM

"Good morning, Ichika-sama. Have you heard the rumor about the new transfer student?" That was greetings Ichika got when he just arrived to the class. Of course he didn't hear anything, as '354 girls around' becoming '355 girls around' meant nothing for him.

"A transfer student?" He asked without much interest. Yesterday, after party, he was reading news about new I.S. developments, until it was past midnight, so now he was a bit sleepy.

"That's right. I heard she's the representative contender from China!" One of his classmates replied.

"Oh my, perhaps she decided to transfer so she could study my technique!" Cecilia Alcott, Class 1-1's student and representative from England, was striking her usual pose, hand on her hip and weight on one leg.

"She can't possibly transfer into this class, right? There's nothing to get worked up over," Houki stated as she appeared from nowhere.

"Any information about her?" Ichika wondered.

"You're concerned about that new girl?" Houki asked sharply.

"Not at all," Ichika replied indifferently, "I'm interested in that new I.S. pilot."

"Hmpft…" Houki snorted, though her mood seemed to improve a bit. "Anyway, you really don't have time to think about some random girls. The class representative tournament is coming up next month."

"That's right, it'll be here before you know it, Ichika-san!" Cecilia agreed. "I'll help you with everything I can, after all, we're the _only_ ones with a personal machine in this class, so I'm willing to spend as much of my private time as needed to provide appropriate assistance." She really emphasized the "only", but that was just a truth. Anyone without personal I.S. would have to request a training suit, get authorization and optimize it, which would take a full day. For a quick mock battle, asking Cecilia would be the fastest way. Though she's no match for Ichika, she was also improving her skills pretty quickly, so she could provide some moderate challenge.

The class representative tournament is just what the name implies: a battle between class representatives, and a chance to give everyone some practical experience before they really start learning how to pilot an I.S. It also helps the classes unite and work together. As an added bonus, the class that gets first prize will earn half a year's worth of free dessert coupons. No wonder the girls are so excited – unlimited chocolate.

"Tournament should be interesting to watch," Ichika said. "Though, the winner is already known…"

"If Orimura-sama wins, the entire class will be happy!" One of girls exclaimed.

"If?" Ichika looked at her with his colder-than-ice eyes. "You should cross-out that word from your dictionary. I'm absolute. My victory is predetermined."

"Exactly, we all saw Ichika-sama on arena," Another girl agreed.

"Besides," Third girl intervened, "At this point, only the representatives from class 1-1 and 1-4 have personal I.S. units, so it should be no problem for Ichika-sama to win this!"

"That information is outdated!" A voice came from the door. For Ichika it sounded somehow familiar. "The representative of class 1-2 now has a personal I.S., too, so it won't be so easy for you to win anymore." A girl was leaning in the doorway to 1-1 classroom, arms and legs crossed.

Ichika recognized her, "Rin? So all those rumors were about you… Well, that explains a lot…"

Ichika's lack of enthusiasm didn't take her aback even a bit. "That's right! I'm China's representative contender, Lingyin Huang, and I've come here today to declare war!"

"War?" Ichika wondered. "Hah, sorry, Rin, but you're going to sign an unconditional surrender act within next few seconds…"

"What?!" Chinese girl exclaimed, she had rather competitive character.

"Three… two… one…" Ichika gave a countdown. ***PANG!*** Rin was hit on the head viciously by the attendance book – elder sister has arrived. Ichika saw her reflection in corridor's windows, so he knew that she's coming.

"What was that for!… eeek!" Rin tried to protest but quickly trailed off as she saw who hit her.

"It's time for HRS. Head back to your own class." As usual – nothing to argue about.

"Chi-Chifuyu-san..." Rin bubbled as her eyes widened in fear. Ichika didn't know why, but Rin always was afraid of his sister.

"You'll call me Orimura-sensei! You're blocking the door here, so get back to class. You're bothering me," Finishing combo from Chifuyu.

"So-Sorry..." Rin trembled and retreated from the door. "I'll come back later. Don't run away, Ichika!" She screamed and dashed towards her own class.

 _'More than a year has passed, yet nothing changed…'_ Ichika mentally facepalmed, summarizing his meeting with his second childhood… it's not possible to call their relationships a 'friendship', they were too weird. ' _Still, she's an I.S. pilot now? That was unexpected…'_

"Ichika, who was that?"

"Is she someone you know?"

"You two seem rather familiar with each other."

"Ichika-san? What sort of relationship do you have with that girl?"

And many more questions of that sort. However, elder sister was on guard. ***PANG!* *PANG!* *PANG!* *PANG!*** "Hurry up and get to your sits, you dolts!" Attendance book was rampaging through the classroom like it was on fire.

* * *

Class started. Since it was Chifuyu who was teaching, even Ichika was listening carefully. However, not everyone was following his example.

…

"Shinonono, I'm waiting for an answer…" Chifuyu raised her voice.

"Yes! What?" Houki startled when she finally heard the teacher. Seemingly, Houki was wandering in her own thoughts.

"Well?" Chifuyu came closer to her, and it looked like a black panther approaching a cornered springbok.

"I... I didn't hear… the question..." Houki admitted, stuttering.

 ***PANG!*** The sound of the attendance book smacking Houki's head confirmed that it remains as hard as ever.

…

"Alcott?" Chifuyu asked. But Cecilia didn't even hear her call. She also was thinking about Ichika and potential 'rivals in love'. There already was one childhood friend, Houki, and now there's another one, and with personal I.S. unit, no less. That was so unjust…

 ***PANG!*** Her blonde curls were flattened by the attendance book, no mercy for the wicked.

* * *

This morning alone, Cecilia and Houki were warned by Maya Yamada five times and smacked by Chifuyu three times. When the lunch period started, both were forced to stay for a 'private talk' with homeroom teacher, so Ichika went to canteen alone. Well, of course he was closely followed by many other girls, but they weren't coming too close.

"Took you long enough, Ichika! I've been waiting for you," Someone was already waiting for him there, none other than the famous transfer student, Lingyin Huang. She was holding a bowl of ramen. She and Ichika sat at small table near window. Unsurprisingly, all neighboring tables quickly became occupied as well.

"We haven't seen each other for a year, right? How were you doing all this time?" Ichika asked, despite he couldn't care less about it, to be honest.

"I'm just fine! Maybe you should be the one to get sick or injured for a change!" Rin replied, somehow aggressively. Still the same old Rin.

* * *

She and Ichika met in fifth grade of junior school. She was transferred almost right after Houki was forced to leave due to government protection program; actually, Rin was even sitting on Houki's place in junior school. She showed some interest towards Ichika almost since the moment they met, and of course, she couldn't properly express her feelings. She was attracted with that aura of power around him, but at the same time she was scared of it. They graduated together and enrolled into same middle school. When Ichika joined football club, Rin joined the cheerleaders team (she was a member of rhythmic gymnastics club in junior school).

In other world, she always was hanging around Ichika during those four years, but… No, Ichika knew about her feelings, but since his fifth grade in junior school he was too focused on learning I.S. technology, and in middle school he was too focused on football and I.S. technology. Besides, as it was said, there were already two women in his life – Chifuyu, who was a model woman for Ichika, and Tabane, who was much more interesting than others.

However, this time Rin had an unwavering purpose. She saw Ichika in the news, and she knew that he's going to study in I.S. Academy. And she came here to conquer him.

* * *

"How long have you been in Japan, Rin? How's your family? When did you become a representative contender?" Ichika asked casually. It's been a year, after all.

"Sheesh! Let me get a word in edgewise!" Rin shook her head. "I've been dying to ask you: how could you use an I.S?! I was shocked when I saw you on the news."

"To my shame, I have to admit that I still have no answer for that question," Ichika replied indifferently. "And it seems that even _she_ does not know… seemingly, I'm just that special," He smiled with irony. Rin definitely had something to say about that comment, but their conversation was interrupted. It seems that Houki and Cecilia were released as demonic teacher aka Chifuyu let them go, and of course they rushed after Ichika.

"Ichika, it's about time you give us an explanation."

"That's right, Ichika-san! Don't tell me you're actually dating this transfer student?"

As they arrived to canteen, Cecilia and Houki were observing that suspicious pair for a few moments, but their patience ran out. Other girls, which were sitting at neighboring tables, were eagerly waiting for answer as well.

"N-no… not really. We aren't dating…" Rin seemed confused a bit as her cheeks were flushing slightly.

"Behave yourselves, young ladies…" Ichika warned them with quiet voice, and their aggressiveness wavered quite a bit under his freezing gaze. "We're haven't seen each other in a year, surely we have something to talk…", Young man replied Houki and Cecilia's question, though he intentionally left uncertainty, as he didn't deny clearly that they're dating, so every girl could jump to her own conclusion, as they all like to do so much.

Houki shook her head to regain some momentum, which she just lost. "So… Who is she?" Shinonono wondered.

"Ah, yes, you had no chance to meet her," Ichika agreed to explain. "Your family moved away after 4th grade, Rin transferred to our school in 5th grade. She went back to China after 2nd grade of middle school, so it's been about a year since I last saw her before."

Ichika turned to Lingyin, "Rin, this is Houki Shinonono. I've told you about her. She's a…" Ichika wanted to say 'younger sister of Tabane', but at the last moment he wisely skipped that part, "…childhood friend I've known since grade school."

"Oh, I see." Rin looked Houki up and down carefully, and Houki, not willing to back down, did the same.

"It's nice to meet one of Ichika's _old_ friends."

"Yeah, nice to meet you."

Their words were polite enough, but sparks were flying between them. Really, girls' rivalry is always funny to watch… but only from aside.

"Since you seem to have forgotten about me, miss Representative Contender from China…" Cecilia reminded about herself.

"And who are you?" Rin asked quite rudely.

"Who am I!? I'm Cecilia Alcott, the representative contender from England! Don't tell me you haven't heard of me?" Blonde said with tragic voice.

"Sorry, I'm just not interested," Rin replied straightforwardly.

"Is that a challenge… I won't lose to someone like you!" Cecilia struck her signature pose.

"Really? Don't underestimate me. I didn't get to be China's representative contender by being weak," Rin took Cecilia's challenge head-on.

"Hey, you two, are you forgetting about me?!" Houki reminded about herself.

And that's how it turned into all-girls triple threat match…

* * *

After class, Ichika arrived to third arena. He was intending to train with Cecilia there. However, not only Cecilia but Houki and Rin also were there, and all three had their I.S. deployed, and arguing about something. Yes, all three. Cecilia was using "Blue Tears", Rin was using some pink-and-purple colored I.S., no doubt it was her personal unit, and Houki was standing there in a fully deployed "Uchigane" I.S.

The **Uchigane** was a highly-rated 2nd generation frame produced in Japan. It's a defensive model that focuses on stability, so it's easy for beginners to use. Thus many countries use it as a training model, just like the I.S. Academy does.

"And what is going on here?" Ichika wondered. Noticing him, girls immediately began to argue even more intensively, seemingly all that was about who's going to train with him, it was hard to say for sure as all three were talking at the same time. It continued for about one minute, until all girls suddenly heard the warning from their units: 'Caution! Energy shot incoming!' In the next moment plasma blast lit up the surroundings.

"Silence!" Ichika ordered, and for some reason his voice now sounded just like the voice of his elder sister, he was holding " **Ebony** " in his left hand. "In school you may argue as much as you like, but this arena is my territory and I don't need that clownery here." All girls seemed offended, but no one dared to argue as Ichika's eyes flashed with infernal light. Besides, it was a true – Ichika was the one who acquired the permission to train on this arena after school, and, as sach he's responsible for everything that may happen here.

"That's better," Ichika smiled with his cold smile. "Now, when we all calmed down, let's talk. First of all, Rin. I'm very sorry, but I can't allow you to train with us…"

"What is that supposed to mean?!" She took aggressive pose, "Our relationships don't mean anything to you?!"

"Calm down, Rin. Nothing personal, but you're from another class, that is very possible that you're going to be my official opponent at interclass tournament, and I'm not willing to disclose my I.S. specifications until official match," Ichika explained. "I'm pretty sure you remember that my football team had the same rules."

"Hmpft!" Rin snorted arrogantly, "And I just honestly wanted to help you. But actually it plays in my favor, without my help you won't raise your combat skills a bit!" As she said that, Rin flew towards one of arena's gates.

Ichika turned to Shinonono, "You surely are stubborn. Getting a permission for training suit and optimizing it… was it really much easier than using my advice?"

"This suit is just what I needed," Houki retorted with arrogant face expression.

"As you say," Ichika wasn't in mood to argue. "Let's start our practice."

"Then I'm starting," Cecilia announced, summoning her rifle.

"No, I'm going first," Houki stated, raising her sword.

"Actually, wait a sec," Ichika interrupted them, looking at two girls with evaluating sight. "I got an interesting idea. Both of you, come at me at the same time!"

"What?! Are you kidding?!" "You're underestimating us?!" Girls seemed angered.

"Come at me already!" Ichika commanded. "And if you need additional motivation – the one who manage to defeat me officially will become my _only_ personal trainer."

"YAAAHH!" Houki rushed at Ichika with sword.

"YOU'RE SO NAÏVE!" Cecilia shouldered her rifle.

Really, they were so easy to manipulate…

* * *

"Well, I guess that's it for today," Ichika notef.

"Uhhh…" "Okay..." Two girls moaned. They were completely exhausted, barely holding on their feet, gasping for breath.

"C'mon," Ichika called for them. "We should leave the arena until eleven, I'll help you out." He came closer, intending to take girls' hands.

"No, wait…" Cecilia moaned again.

"Yeah… go ahead… let us rest for a moment," Houki agreed.

"Are you sure that you two are okay?" Ichika asked, "Leaving ladies like that is somehow against my moral code," He added, though he knew that they won't agree.

"Yes, just go," Houki confirmed.

"We'll be right behind you," Cecilia assured him.

"Alright…" Ichika finally agreed as he looked at girls one more time. Houki and Cecilia, with sweat glistening on their skin… _'Female's body is beautiful, after all…'_ Ichika thought before he left the arena.

About two or three minutes after Ichika disappeared inside hangar's gate, girls did the same, though they intentionally flew into another hangar. In control zone, they recalled their units. As both I.S. vanished, so did their support, and the fatigue hit both girls with full force. Cecilia collapsed an all four, Houki could barely stand, leaning on the wall.

"Who the hell is he…" Cecilia wondered, still trying to catch her breath. "He was one against two of us, yet I bet he's on feet now, while we're barely crawling on all four…"

"It was always like that, even in junior school, in our kendo dojo," Houki remembered. "All his opponents could barely sit, while he was standing ready for next battle…" She also was breathing heavily. _'Maybe he has his eyes, yes, but I doubt his eyes have something to do with his physical endurance…'_ Houki thought. _'Orimura Ichika… what's the secret of your power…'_

 _'Orimura Ichika…. Can I really keep up with you…?'_ Cecilia was a bit desperate. _'No I have to! I won't back down!'_ She mentally vowed.

* * *

Ichika was in control room, reviewing the recording of his last training session.

"Hey, Ichika!" The sliding door opened, and there stood Rin. "Good workout, Ichika! Here's a towel! You're OK with a sports drink, right?"

"Oh, Rin?" Ichika wondered. "So your curiosity got better of you after all, I saw you watching our training from grandstand," He added.

"Not at all!" Rin retorted, turning aside and blushing a little. "I just was waiting for you to finish!"

"You're still angry at me for that I didn't let you train with me?" Ichika asked, taking a sip from bottle of sport drink that Rin brought.

"I'm telling you it's fine! You're affecting your own future performance, not mine," Rin declared. "You brought them both on their knees, one against two, that's just pathetic. And after that they even left you alone!" It sounded like accusation, but Ichika noticed that cunning smirk on Rin's face.

 _'What a cunning girl,'_ He thought. _'I'm tired after workout and here she is, with towel and drink, and she's keeping me company…'_ Last time Ichika saw her was the winter of second year in middle school, and it's been only a year since then. But something has changed. Not that she's changed much physically, but she surely looks more womanly, even though her breasts didn't grow much.

"Ichika, did you miss me when I moved away?" She suddenly asked.

"Well, let's just say our football team was missing your support during last year," Ichika replied, slightly smiling to Rin. Answer was ambiguous, but seems Rin has it interpreted in her favor. She was sitting with delighted smile on her face.

"By the way, is that true that you're living alone?" She wondered.

"Yeah, though academy still keeps second bed in my room, no doubts they hope to find another male pilot one day…" Ichika replied. "Speaking of which, I have to go back to my room now. Thanks for keeping me company, Rin," He bowed politely.

"Oh… I-It's just nothing…" Her cheeks flushed again.

"By the way, Rin, if I were you, I'd be training myself instead of watching other people doing that," Ichika reminded. "Do not disappoint me on tournament."

"Oh I won't!" Rin suddenly jumped on her feet. "Rest assured, I'm not like those two!" She stated, pointing at Ichika, challenging him.

"We'll see…" Ichika's eyes flashed coldly.

* * *

May 7th, 7:57 PM

Class representative tournament schedule has been decided two weeks ago, so now everyone, probably even the local cats, knew it. Honestly, it was hard to call that a tournament. Only four I.S. unit, three battles: two semi-finals and one final. Different grades do not intersect. Three different grades will be competing at different arenas at the same time, and time for one battle is limited with 45 minutes. In other words, entire 'tournament' will be settled within three hours, so Ichika couldn't comprehend the stir around it. By the way, just as Ichika predicted – his first opponent was Rin. Second pair were girl from class 1-4, _Kanzashi Sarashiki,_ and girl from class 1-3 whose name Ichika couldn't remember.

Today was the last opportunity to train before all arenas will be closed for refitting before tournament. After school, Ichika headed to the 3rd arena for training as usual. The sun was going down, gradually turning the sky orange. Like usual, Houki and Cecilia were there to spar with Ichika. During last three weeks they improved themselves a lot, though they still were no match for him even together, now they were challengeable enough for Ichika so he also could improve, even if just a little.

"Hey, Ichika, let's start!" Houki urged him.

"Ichika-san, what are you looking at?" Cecilia wondered.

"At sunset," He replied shortly. "The setting sun is especially red today. It has the same color as my left eye… something interesting is going to happen soon, don't you think?"

Both girls were severely confused by his saying.

* * *

May 12th, 9:04 AM

Saturday's morning. Ichika was visiting his house in city, where he used to live with his elder sister until he enrolled into I.S. Academy. He arrived quite early and now he was digging in his stuff in his room (it still was his room).

Someone knocked to the door. "Ichika, I'm coming in," Chifuyu's voice said as she entered the room. She didn't need to ask to know that it's her brother, she always knows when he's nearby.

"Good morning, onee-san," Ichika greet his elder sister. "Sorry if I woke you up…"

"No, I woke up a while ago, I'm going to academy today as well," Chifuyu replied. As a side note, it worth to mention that Chifuyu was wearing her lingerie only. She never was shy of her brother and he never minded her habits.

"You're going to help with arenas preparation?" Ichika guessed as he took some tool and examined it.

"Yes, but not only that," Sister replied. Here, in their house, Chifuyu wasn't Orimura-sensei, but beloved sister, and vice-versa. "There are always a whole lot of things to do. But tell me, what are you doing here so early?"

"I'm doing some adjustments," Ichika replied, pointing at his right palm. The weird thing was that his right palm now was lying on worktable, detached from his arm. Right now Ichika was working on his right arm, which now was skinless and seemed to be made of some alloy, mixed with polysilicon structures. "I need to slightly enlarge frames of my hand so it would match the growth of my left arm and rest of the body, my hands shouldn't look different in sizes…" He explained.

"Understood," Chifuyu replied shortly.

It happened when Ichika was captured during second Mondo Grosso. In battle, when Ichika killed his capturers, his right hand was severely wounded. Medics couldn't save it – it was too late, mortification already started, they had to amputate his hand from shoulder and below. Thus, shortly after, Ichika, with some advises from Tabane, created an artificial hand for himself, a servo-system, similar to I.S. limbs. Surprisingly, he wasn't bothered about that much, as new hand was much more powerful and agile than old one. Besides, his experience with creating artificial hand was very useful, as he created few more things to… improve his own body.

Yes, that was little secret of Ichika's physical superiority – his body was augmented with cybernetic implants that he created himself. Unlike his sister, Ichika never was naturally gifted with physical abilities, but he was gifted with powerful mind, and he used its advantages at full scale. And no, his precious eyes were a natural gift, he never did anything to improve them.

"Couldn't do it in academy," Ichika explained, "If any of those girls would see me like this their heads would explode with contradictive thoughts. Some secrets shall remain secrets…"

"By the way," Chifuyu seemingly ignored his last phrase, "How about…"

"Your fresh late-spring clothes are waiting for you in living room on first floor," Ichika replied, without even hearing the question.

"Thanks," Chifuyu replied and headed downstairs.

Few minutes after Chifuyu left, Ichika's phone began to ring. It was very specific ringtone – " **Powerwolf - Catholic in the Morning... Satanist at Night"** That ringtone was assigned for only one person in Ichika's contact list.

He grabbed the phone, "Hey, it's been a while," He said, "How's your boobs doing?"

"Hi! Hi! They're great as always!" High and very energetic female's voice replied. "And they're bouncing as I'm hearing Ikkun's voice… but can breasts really bounce? Am I the only one thinking like this? Oh my, oh my, so strange!"

"Oh, I can imagine them bouncing…" Ichika mumbled, "…anyway, what's up?"

"Ah, it's just a social call!" Tabane assured him. "How's Houki-chan doing!?"

"Scowling as always, so I guess she's just fine. I'm sure you already know that there's a tournament soon, let's see what's happen," Ichika said.

"Right! Tabane-nee will be happy to talk with the winner, V! V!" I.S. creator shouted joyfully.

"Then speak to you again soon," Ichika said, "Only I can defeat myself!"

* * *

And that's it for chapter II. See you soon people, don't forget to write a **REVIEW**!


	3. Just The Beginning

Greetings, people! Here is the 3rd chapter, took a while to write it, but now it's here.

For those who wrote a **review** :

 **ZenithTempest:** I'm writing my stories mostly when I'm on duty, and it's a bit hard to write without mistakes when your boss constantly hanging around, trust me. As for beta… Finding beta who'd read so big chapters isn't easy, especially when it's I.S. franchisee, not something super-popular.

 **DarkBladerZX, Guest x3, Imperial-samaB, Telron, DanteNaru, killjoytommy, luffyxnicorobin, Luo Hao, ArthurMacGuffin:** Thanks for waiting people, here's the chapter.

* * *

 **Chapter III – Just The Beginning**

…

May 21th, 10:21 AM

On the day of the 'tournament', the matches between first-grade students would be held at the 2nd arena. Matches schedule has already been decided: first match would be none other than the match between Huang Lingyin (class 1-2) and Orimura Ichika (class 1-1). Second match will be between Sarashiki Kanzashi (class 1-4) and Romy Bentham (class 1-3), and final will be between the winners of those two matches, obviously.

Rumors about the upcoming battle between freshmen have been spreading like a wildfire, so there was not an empty seat in the stands. The sidewalks also were completely filled with students, and there were even people who can't enter the place, so they were watching the match on the broadcast screens.

Apparently there were even some second years who got the bright idea to sell "reserved seats" in the stands. Chifuyu put a stop to that a few days ago. According to rumors, the mastermind was confined to her dorm room for three days.

 _'Quite ironic, there are 2nd and 3rd grade students also here, don't they have to watch their own classmates fighting on 3rd and 4th arenas?'_ Ichika thought, watching at the stands. Not that he was bothered by that situation, but his popularity haven't lessened even a bit.

Rin was hovering silently in front of Ichika, waiting for the match to begin. Her I.S. is called **Shenlong**. Like the **Blue Tears** , Shenlong possessed primary and secondary weapons. Two swords were primary weapons, and those cannons on both shoulders, which looked like they can attack on their own, were secondary weapons. Without deep analysis it was obvious that Rin's I.S. was an assault, power-type unit. [Shenlong is a chinse reading of its name's kanjis, if you read them on Japanese, it will by Kōryū, both words mean Armored Dragon].

"Contestants, please move to the designated positions," Ichika heard the announcement.

Now both I.S. units were hovering in mid-air, about 70 yards away from each other. Due to Ichika's closed helmet it wasn't possible to see his face expression, as he silently was waiting for match to begin. Rin's 'helmet' looked more like a tiara, so her face was completely visible, and her face expression seemed quite confident. That competitive smirk was well known to Ichika, but she doesn't seem to hold any negative emotions. [Because, just like nowadays, in his past Ichika always was quite careful with words and especially with promises, so there were no ambiguous promises between the two].

"Ichika, if you ask me to be gentle now, I'll reduce the amount of pain you're about to experience!" Rin opened a communication channel to Ichika. Mocking the opponent before battle was one of Rin's bad habits, Ichika was well aware about that when he was football team's captain and Rin was in cheerleaders' team.

Ichika, however, was immune to taunts. "Watch careful, Rin," he replied emotionlessly. "You're about to learn what is absolute defeat." This battle won't be the same as against Cecilia, because this time Ichika wasn't interested in anything concerning Rin's I.S. unit. Shenlong was a 3rd generation unit, designed for melee and close-to-middle range battle, and virtually Ichika couldn't get anything really useful from its operating data. As such, he was intending to defeat Rin as quickly as possible and be done with it.

"Fair warning: the I.S. defense shield isn't perfect. It's possible for an attack to break through the defensive shield and damage the suit," Rin warned with malicious smile. That wasn't an idle threat, actually, it's a known fact. There's an attack, sometimes called the "final weapon", that can directly damage the I.S. pilot. Of course, it's against the rules, as it's dangerous. "It's possible to wreck the entire suit without killing the pilot," Rin couldn't settle down.

"How cute…" Ichika replied indifferently, "You're actually telling _me_ about how the I.S. works…?" His words sounded quite ironic.

The sound of the buzzer announced the beginning of the match, and Rin and Ichika charged at each other. Ichika already deployed **Ragnarök** , which quickly switched into **Arbiter** form – three-barreled shotgun. Ichika immediately pulled the trigger, but Rin seemingly was expecting that. She spent several days observing Ichika's training with Houki and Cecilia, and she was well aware of Ragnarök's shape-shift capability. She dived, avoiding plasma charge.

However, using his eyes, Ichika foresaw her evasive maneuver. He couldn't land a direct hit, but plasma charge exploded right above Rin's head. Girl's body was blown downward by shockwave, induced by plasma blast. She felt herself starting to black out, but her I.S. immediately forced her back to consciousness. "Defensive armor pierced. Damage: 37. Shield damage: 104. Shield Energy remaining: 596. Actual damage assessment: Low." Rin heard her I.S. report.

"That was what you'd call a jab," Ichika noted.

 _'What the hell happened just now?!'_ Rin was slightly shocked. _'Timing for my maneuver was perfect, how could he know that I was going to evade his attack that way?!'_

"You're disappointing me, Rin," Ichika said.

"Don't get cocky!" She shouted in frustration. The ball-like things hovering at Rin's shoulders, which were looking like shoulder guards, split open, preparing to fire.

However, Ichika's shotgun quickly split in half, shape-shifting into dual plasma pistols, **Ebony** and **Ivory**. He quickly shot from both pistols, and two plasma blasts flashed in the middle between him and Rin.

* * *

"What was that...?" Houki asked as she was watching the live broadcast from the arena. For some reason, she and Cecilia were allowed to watch the match together with Maya and Chifuyu from control room.

"Those are called 'Impact Cannons'. They compress air into the barrel, and the resulting shockwave fires out like a cannon…" Maya Yamada explained.

"Yes, like my _Blue Tears,_ it's a 3rd generation machine," Cecilia noted.

"This is truly an advanced weapon," Maya continued. "Since that's compressed air, charges are invisible for human's eyes, and it seems there's no restrictions on the angle the bullet is fired…"

"But it seems like Ichika's seeing these bullets…" Houki said. "Look, he's shooting them down with his pistols!"

"It stands to reason," Chifuyu said. Everyone looked at her so she got to explain. "Air inside this arena isn't filtered, it's usual atmospheric air. Atmospheric air contains dust and water vapor, and when she compresses air, he sees the increase of dust and vapor concentration. In other words, for him those invisible bullets are visible. Besides, since she uses bullets made of compressed air, they have a mass, which means that those cannons aren't completely recoilless. Those small **PIC** [Passive Inertia Canceller] stabilizers on her shoulderpads needs to compensate that recoil; Orimura can easily foresee the approximate direction of incoming shot by observing those stabilizers…"

Maya, Houki and Cecilia again were looking at Chifuyu with their mouths opened, and not that they were astonished by Ichika's abilities, more likely by Chifuyu's abilities to analyze combat situation. Of course they're blood siblings, but still…

* * *

 _'What the hell is going on?!'_ Rin thought angrily. Actually, her fighting style was different from Cecilia's. In combat, she's usually calm and collected. But now she was frustrated as somehow, all her plans for this battle crumbled into pieces.

For her age, Rin was a relatively good I.S. pilot, and she was in quite good sync with her unit. Her close-range weapon was a uniquely shaped, double-bladed sword, with looked like two scimitars, connected in the middle. Rin can twirl the thing so fast that it looked like a cheerleader's baton (she once was a cheerleader, after all). Rin could whip the thing around, attack from either side, vertically and diagonally, with the sword spinning like a saw blade.

She, however, wasn't planning to use it as her main weapon against Ichika as she knew that sword combat is his specialty. Against him, she was relying on Impact Cannons. Those cannons were able to attack from any angle, no matter how oblique. They could attack from above, below and even behind. When it comes to using them, Rin's abilities were on quite high level. Whether it's "unlimited movement" or "all-around axis reversals", she's already managed to master the basics. Her ability to mix and match these techniques was a sign of that she hasn't become a representative contender by chance.

However, all her skills were almost useless against Ichika. He was easily suppressing her impact cannons attacks with counter-shots from his plasma pistols, shooting at Rin herself at the same time. She tried a melee for a few times, but, as expected, her attacks were easily parried.

Ichika was using defensive tactics. He never tried to make aggressive thrusts, instead he was waiting for flaws in Rin's maneuvers. Switching between his weapon's forms, he landed several successful attacks. After about five minutes of battle, Rin's shield was 301 out of 700 points, and her unit itself sustained medium damage. Ichika, on the other hand, suffered only few indirect hits, his shield was 542 out of 600 and his I.S. itself was just fine.

 _'It's not possible!'_ Rin mentally protested, _'If I lose like that…'_

However, her thoughts were interrupted as she heard Ichika's voice over the comm channel. "Give up, Rin. It's over." That was all that he said. Seemingly, he finished with analysis of her combat style and was ready for decisive move.

"What?!" Rin shouted angrily, Ichika definitely hit the sore spot, Rin's competitive demeanor was her well known trait. "I'm not done yet!" At that moment she was quite close to Ichika, so she tried to attack him with her impact cannons from close range. However, Ichika was like waiting for that.

"My orders are absolute," Ichika said, "Stop struggling, lower your head…" With his plasma pistols he destroyed her shells, made of compressed air, right after they've been shot. After that pistols immediately turned into sword, **Redeemer** , and Ichika attacked Rin in melee, forcing her to use her own melee weapon to parry his attack.

She was quite good with sword so she managed to repel his attack, but Ichika forced her to lift her weapon down, and that's was a mistake, as in less than a second Ichika's sword turned into shotgun, he dashed upward, and shot point blank from above. Rin tried to somehow deflect the attack with sword, but plasma blast was too powerful – Rin's I.S. was blown downwards and smashed to the ground as it lost more than 100 shield points.

Though she still could fight, as she still had 197 shield points. But, while she was still on the ground, shotgun switched into sniper rifle, **Ambassador** , and Ichika's I.S., **Messiah** , began to glow, activating _One Off Ability_ – **Paradise of Darkness**. Sniper rifle's barrel began to shine brightly, 'draining' light from the surroundings. Ichika shot, as very bright charge of overheated plasma reached its target within 0.16 seconds, leaving Rin no chance to dodge. Ichika wasn't targeting Rin herself as he didn't want to fry her, he was targeting into the ground, slightly aside from her, but that was enough. Powerful overheated plasma charge hit the ground and destructive plasma blast burned through her shield, threatening to burn pilot herself, thus leaving Rin's I.S. no choice but to activate Absolute Barrier, immediately reducing her shield to zero.

A buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the match. "Match concluded. Winner: Ichika Orimura. Match duration: 5:41." Since Ichika got scratched several times, and he used Barrier Void Attack once, his shield was at 491 out of 600. That was a clear victory. Spectators were excited, they were waving to Ichika and cheering for him.

Rin was shocked. Since her shield was depleted and unit could no longer move, she undeployed it, and now she just stood on the scorched sand of arena's floor with blank eyes, as she couldn't comprehend what just happened. She came here to win, one of her goals was to show Ichika her superior piloting skills, so he'd choose her as a training partner instead of those two. But instead she faced crashing defeat within less than six minutes.

Ichika approached her, he was intending to pick her up and carry away from arena, but suddenly a loud BOOM reverberated throughout the entire arena. Since match was already over, even Ichika was taken by surprise. All he managed to notice is a bright energy beam that penetrated arena's shield from outside and then something passed through the new-made hole. Dense cloud of smoke was rising from the center of the arena, and it seemed like something was inside of it.

"Wh-What's going on...?!" Rin shouted. She didn't even used comm channel, just screamed. She still hasn't recovered from shock of her defeat and now something completely unplanned was happening.

* * *

All spectators couldn't understand what's going on, the stands were lit up by fire in the middle of the arena.

In control room, Cecilia and Houki also were completely confused.

"What? What happened?!" Blonde was perplexedly looking around.

"Ichika?!" Houki exclaimed worriedly.

"The system's been damaged!" Maya Yamada reported, "It appears that something has penetrated the arena's protective shield!"

"Orimura! Tournament is suspended! Take Huang and evacuate immediately!" Chifuyu ordered via comm channel.

"I'm on it!" Ichika replied as right now he had no reason to disobey teacher's order.

Suddenly… "Source of disturbance is an unknown I.S. Sealing the arena now." Robotic woman's voice announced. The arena and the barriers are made of the same material as an I.S. If something capable of penetrating the arena's shield gets in, it automatically seals all the sections. Because of that, all spectators were trapped inside arena complex, and no one could get inside arena, either.

"Unknown I.S?" Now that actually picked up a bit of Ichika's interest. The problem was that right now Ichika was holding the completely defenseless Rin…

"What are you waiting for?! Let's get out of here!" Rin shouted, for some reason she was also flushing…

"Silence!" Ichika ordered as his I.S. reported about incoming energy charge. A laser crackled through the air where he just was. At the last second, Ichika dodged the attack. Due to dense smoke, his vision was obscured, so he barely avoided that laser beam. Ichika didn't stop as the haze from the first attack hasn't even cleared, and another shot was fired over.

Ichika dodged again and as he flew around it, he finally could take a look at the enemy. The grayish I.S. doesn't look normal; it's arms were abnormally long, almost dragging the ground like a gorilla, and there was no neck visible. Also, it has full-body armor. Normally, an I.S. will only deploy armor over a part of pilot's body. There's no need to have full armor because energy shields handle most of the defense. Of course, there are I.S. models developed for defense that are equipped with physical armor, but even those leave the pilot's joints exposed for free movement.

An I.S. without even one inch of skin showing was unheard of, well, with the exception of Ichica's Messiah, but his joints were covered with flexible carbon-like fiber material, not metallic armor.

Besides, size of that I.S. was another clue that it's not normal. This unit was huge. Including the arms, the frame of that thing was almost 7 feet long, and its body was covered with jet propulsion nozzles, probably all necessary to maintain its position. Its "head" had sensors, which were arranged in a bizarre pattern, and there are 4 ports on its forearms that allow it to fire those lasers.

"Orimura-san! Leave the arena! The teachers will use their I.S. to suppress it!" Yamada-sensei was calling for Ichika through the broadcast channel. Her voice sounded much more serious than usual.

"Negative," Ichika replied. "We've got to buy people time to evacuate until the teachers arrive." The I.S. was powerful enough to break through the arena's barrier. If nobody's going to keep it busy, it could have broken through the stadium's barrier and attacked the audience. Besides, Ichika was quite interested in taking a closer look at that mysterious unit.

"Orimura-san?" Yamada-sensei was calling again. "You just can't do that! If something happens to a student..."

"Calm down, Yamada-sensei," Ichika replied. "I have a plan. This one is definitely interested in me, so I'll just give it what it wants. I'm taking this thing out of here. Order to close the airspace west from the academy, over the gulf. I'll take this I.S. there and deal with it."

"Ichika-san!? What are you saying?!" Cecilia couldn't believe her ears.

"Ichika are you nuts?!" Houki shouted angrily.

"Stop screaming and take care of Rin," Ichika said. "I guess it's time for all of you to see the full power of Messiah, the 4th generation I.S. unit."

""What?!"" Several voices asked at once.

Enemy I.S. shot at Ichika one more time, but this time, since he could see the enemy clearly, he easily avoided that attack, dashing towards the ground. And now was the chance. Ichika placed Rin on the ground as all six wings of his unit opened, extending glowing Fold Out armor and activating plasma thrusters. After that, with immense acceleration, Ichika charged at enemy I.S. and literally grabbed it with a right lariat. Enemy's attempt to break free or shoot were blocked by Ichika's sword. Despite very heavy load, Ichika's unit continued to accelerate, and within few moments enemy I.S. was literally thrown out of the arena right through the hole in arena barrier it made with its first attack. When they were out of the arena, Ichika quickly released the enemy unit and made a distance between it and himself. Enemy immediately began to shoot at Ichika, who engaged evasive maneuvers, luring enemy away from the academy, towards sea.

* * *

"HELLO? HELLO? ORIMURA-SAN, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" Yamada-sensei must've been especially anxious. She forgot that there's no need to shout into the I.S. comm. The people around her must think she's just weird.

"He said that he can handle it, didn't he?" Chifuyu said with relaxed voice. "I say we let him go for it."

"W-WHAT? ORIMURA-SENSEI, HOW CAN YOU SAY SUCH A THING!?" Maya's eyes became as big as saucers.

Cecilia and Houki were silent, watching the outside cameras' images.

"Calm down and have some coffee, Yamada-sensei. You're only stressing out because your blood sugar's getting low," Chifuyu said casually as she opened the container with white powder and put a spoon into it.

"...erm, Sensei? That's the salt..." Maya noted.

Chifuyu's spoon froze in mid-air; a cascade of white powder still falling into her cup. "What's salt doing on a coffee tray?" She wondered.

"Who knows? But it is clearly labeled. I can even read it from here," Maya noted. "Ah, so you're worried about your brother? I can understand why you'd make a mistake like that," She finally understood. An irritating silence fell. The silence pressed in ominously on Maya Yamada, so she tried to start a conversation, "Oh, you know..."

Of course Chifuyu was worried. No matter how talented Ichika was, and how powerful was his I.S., he's her brother, only family in this world. And least of all she liked people speculating about her feelings, especially when she's worried. "Yamada-sensei, please have some coffee," Chifuyu suggested her a cup.

"Huh? I-Is-isn't that the one you poured salt in..." Maya stuttered a little.

"Here!" Chifuyu insisted.

Maya was quite sure that she was being offered the salty coffee, but she felt that defying Chifuyu at that moment could be even worse. She sniffled sadly as she accepted, "I-I'll take it then..."

"The coffee is hot so just gulp it down in swallow…" Chifuyu warned… is she really a devil?

"Sensei, please permit me to use my I.S.! I can deploy it right away!" Cecilia cried.

"I wish I could, but..." Chifuyu tapped on one of the displays and intel filled the screen: data on the 2nd arena.

"The barriers are set at level 4... and the doors are all locked? Did the unknown I.S. do that?" Blonde wondered.

"It sure looks that way. Since we're in complete lockdown, we can neither evacuate nor send support," Though Chifuyu's voice was calm, her hands were trembling as she tapped at the screen.

"In that the case, declare a state of emergency and ask for government support!" Cecilia exclaimed.

"We've done that already. Right now, senior elites are busy trying to crack the system. Once we get the shields down, we have squads on standby ready to attack," Chifuyu's eyebrows began to twitch. Cecilia had never seen Chifuyu so tense, and, fearing that any further protest could trigger an explosion, she restrained herself and sat down. Instead, she asked about another thing that was bothering her.

"Sensei, is that true that Ichika's I.S. is 4th generation unit?" Blonde wondered. She remembered how Ichika simply grabbed huge enemy I.S. and forcibly dragged it away, with such acceleration… "Various countries have finally begun to release 3rd generation prototypes, yet he's talking about 4th generation…"

"I don't know," Chifuyu simply replied. She was aware of that Tabane rebuilt that unit, and after that Ichika also had it further upgraded, but actually Chifuyu didn't know its exact specs. "But you saw it with your own eyes, haven't you?"

* * *

To that moment, Ichika managed to lure enemy I.S. quite far from academy, and now they were fighting above the gulf, west from the facility, on safe distance from both the academy and nearby city.

"Orimura, report!" Ichika heard his sister's voice over comm. channel.

"I'm almost done with enemy's analysis," Ichika reported. "With 95% probability I can say that this unit is an unmanned I.S. Repeat, this unit is an unmanned I.S."

""What?!"" Ichika heard several voices asking that.

"Orimura-san," He heard Maya's voice, "What are you talking about? An I.S. can't move without a pilot."

"I guess it's no longer an axiom," Ichika replied, dodging another beam attack.

"No way, there has to be somebody inside. An I.S. can't move without anyone in it. That's just how it is!" Ichika heard Cecilia's voice

"Cecilia, I'm well aware of that all the textbooks says the same thing: 'An I.S. definitely can't move without a pilot.' But according to that I'm seeing right now, that is no longer a truth. This thing's movements are too mechanical, and here are more evidences of that."

"Understood," Chifuyu's voice replied, seemingly, she believed in her brother's analysis.

"Oh, and one more interesting fact, Orimura-sensei," Ichika addressed personally to his sister. "This I.S. has four energy beam weapon. Two high-powered heavy laser cannons and two light rapid fire pulse cannons, but all of them uses energy beams with frequency modulation of 445 terahertz… I think this is quite interesting…"

* * *

In control room, Maya, Cecilia and Houki all looked at Chifuyu. She didn't say anything but clenched her fists and frowned. That choice of frequency was actually strange because it was a low frequency (red) spectrum, which has relatively low photon energy. Usually, military-class lasers use much higher frequencies, for example Cecilia's **Blue Tears** and **Starlight Mark III** rifle uses energy beams with frequency modulation of 650 terahertz (that's why they're blue). However, according to Chifuyu's reaction, that wasn't the main reason why Ichika found enemy's lasers interesting. No one dared to ask her right now, but seemingly there was some sort of secret, known to siblings.

Right now, Ichika and enemy's I.S. were fighting too far away from academy, so using outer surveillance cameras, people in control room could only see flashes from their shots.

"Darn… how long would it take to crack that system?..." Cecilia asked in frustration.

"There's no reason for you to worry. You couldn't help anyway," Chifuyu said calmly.

Cecilia jumped to her feet, "What are you saying?!"

"I'm saying that 'Blue Tears' was specially designed to handle multiple attackers alone. If you'd tried to function in a squad, you'd just be getting in everyone's way," Chifuyu replied.

"I would never! How could you say that?!" Blonde protested.

"Have you had squad-based training before? What was that mission? How did you assess the enemy? What was the duration of the mission? What position did you assume on the squad and what was your role...?" Chifuyu simply overwhelmed Cecilia.

"All right, that's enough! I get it already!" Cecilia raised her hands in surrender to prevent Chifuyu from rattling on with what was becoming a very long lecture.

"Good. You need to understand why things are the way they are," Chifuyu said indulgently.

"Sigh... I hate feeling myself that powerless," Cecilia sighed a long sigh of worry and exhaustion.

"Hmm?" Chifuyu suddenly frowned, seems someone contacted her via private channel, "Really?" She turned to Cecilia and looked at her with evaluating sight. "Very well, but are you taking responsibility?" She asked. Seemingly, she got an affirmative reply as she again looked at Cecilia. "Alcott, head to the bay three, get ready to engage immediately after we remove the lockdown."

"Yes ma'am!" Cecilia reported as she quickly perked up, and ran out of control room.

"Orimura-sensei, what's going on?!" Houki asked as both she and Maya Yamada were looking at her in surprise.

"I'm not sure," Chifuyu replied, but her face seemed rather intrigued.

* * *

About eight minutes have passed since the moment Ichika dragged enemy I.S. from the arena and began one-on-one battle. Drone appeared to be much more tough opponent than Rin or Cecilia, as its reaction was much faster, and drone's energy beams were capable of counter-shooting Ichika's plasma charges. Battling this drone, Ichika really regretted that his Ragnarök doesn't have a rapid-fire weapon form. However, that wasn't the reason why this battle was taking so long. Ichika wanted something from that drone – simply destroying it or disabling the enemy wasn't an option this time. And Ichika got quite a daring plan, he was just waiting for something to execute that plan, and finally…

Ichika's weapon switched into sword form, and he charged at enemy with full speed. Drone engaged evasive maneuvers. But it wasn't fast enough to escape from 4th generation unit. Ichika evaded all enemy's energy beam attacks and tried to plunge his sword right into enemy's body. Using his massive arms, drone grabbed sword's blade, blocking Ichika's attack, at the same time powering up its lasers for counter attack. But that was exactly what Ichika was waiting for.

"Are you ready?" Ichika asked via comm. channel.

"Of course," Cecilia replied confidently.

Ichika dashed backward, and at that moment, all four Blue Tears opened fire, spearing through the enemy I.S. from multiple directions. BAM! The full-powered attack from Cecilia's **Starlight Mark III** broke through its shields and caused a small explosion, due to direct hit the enemy I.S. lost its 'head'.

"Drone or human, anyone who acts against me is never forgiven," Ichika said, reconfiguring the Fold Out armor on his I.S. wings, disengaging plasma thrusters and instead forcing additional plasma into **Redeemer** 's plasma ejector, at the same time activating One Off ability, **Paradise of Darkness** , preparing for really devastating blow. "Because I'm victorious over all, I'm always the just," Ichika swung his sword, literally slicing the drone I.S. in half.

* * *

"ICHIKA!" Houki shouted as bright explosion lit up the horizon. Her eyes stuck to computer's screen, but few moments later she heard Ichika's voice.

"Orimura reporting: enemy I.S. destroyed. I repeat: enemy I.S. destroyed. Me and Ms. Alcott are fine, we're returning."

Maya Yamada breathed out a sigh of relief. Chifuyu didn't show any emotion, yet slight smile of pride beamed on her face for a moment.

Only Houki seemed unhappy. She stood with her fist clenched, angry at both Ichika and Cecilia. _'Why the hell he asked her for assistance?!'_ But actually, she was also angry at herself, that she couldn't participate in battle, _'If only I had a personal I.S…'_

* * *

Right after Ichika and Cecilia finished their report to Chifuyu, they both were sent to their rooms for rest. Tournament was canceled, so naturally the rest of today became the day off. Ichika just finished dressing in his uniform as suddenly someone literally barged into his room. He didn't even look at the visitor as he already knew who it was, only Houki would be so brazen. And right now, for some reason, she seemed like a charging bull.

"What were you just thinking!?" She shouted. She seemed angry but that anger was a bit strange, as if she was trying to hide some other emotion behind that anger. "I'm glad that you've won, but you could have left that rogue I.S. to the teachers! Haven't you heard the phrase 'pride goes before a fall'?!" Houki's shoulders were actually trembling, and she was kind of panting. What could have possibly made her so wound up?

Ichika slowly turned his head towards Houki, and his much-colder-than-ice gaze cooled her down almost immediately. "Houki, we already had this talk recently, didn't we?" He asked coldly. "Only one woman in this world is allowed to scold me, and that is not you…" Houki seemed discouraged and awkward silence filled the room. For a moment Ichika thought that there's no need to be too harsh with her. "Why are you so tousled? Don't tell me…" Ichika closed one eye "…you were worried about me?"

Her face quickly reddened and she looked away, "Of… of course not! Why would I be worried about you?!"

"I don't know," Ichika decided to tease her a bit more, "I'm the owner of the most advanced I.S. unit in the world, you're well aware of my piloting skills… and yet you're here, with intention to scold me… I couldn't see many reasons for that…" Even her ears were a bit red now.

"An-anyway, your training paid off, didn't it?" She tried to change subject.

"Indeed," Ichika nodded. "We will continue training just like we have been, okay?"

"Well, um, good, then. I'm… uh… I'm heading back to my room now," She said.

"Alright, see you," Ichika nodded.

"...Ichika," She called for him when she already was on the doorstep.

"Yes?" He asked.

"During the battle... you were... well, you were..." She was stuttering, "…Amazing…" She said it so quiet that Ichika couldn't hear it, but since his eyes were capable of lip-reading, he understood.

"Thanks, Houki," He replied, forcing her to quickly close his room's door as Houki's face was beet-red now.

* * *

Rin was in infirmary, sitting on the bed, watching the setting sun. She wasn't hurt, she was delivered here just in case, and actually she was already free to go, but she didn't want to return to her room, not yet. She was thinking…

All her planes turned to dust within several minutes. She wanted to defeat Ichika today, proving that she's a great I.S. pilot. After that she wanted to become his personal trainer, and then she definitely would be able to seduce him somehow… simple.

But instead she faced crashing defeat on arena. After that, when that unknown unit attacked, Ichika was forced to protect her, while she was a hindrance for him. And while he was fighting enemy I.S., she was forced to stick at the wrecked arena, even unable to watch what was going on.

 _'How such a thing could happen?'_ Rin thought, watching the setting sun. _'Since when he became that powerful? How much he usually was holding back, training with those two girls?'_ Rin saw their training for several times, and according to that she saw she had a fair chance against Ichika. But skills that he's showed during the official match were on completely different level…

Besides, that damn renegade I.S., which attacked right after their match. When Ichika charged at it head on and literally threw out from arena… her heart almost stopped. What was he thinking?! It was so reckless, but it also looked so cool and brave… And Rin already knew that Ichika defeated that thing… with some help from another girl…

If only Rin could be that girl… If she wasn't defeated so quickly, their match definitely would've been canceled and she could assist Ichika in battle against enemy I.S. But…

In other words, Rin's thoughts were quite depressive. "How're you feeling?" Quiet voice asked from behind.

"YAAA!" Rin jumped and almost fell on the floor, but thanks to his foreseeing eyes Ichika managed to catch her and put back on bed. "Ichika?!" She cried as her face reddened (to prevent her from falling he caught her with both hands and held her like a bride for a moment), "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sneak up?" Ichika asked with irony, "I've entered pretty normally," He said as he sat on Rin's bed near her.

"Wh… wha… wait! You can't sit here!" Girl cried as she crawled away from Ichika and huddled up in a corner of her bed.

"Rin, what are you doing?" Ichika asked, though he perfectly knew what she was doing. He knew that she had feelings for him since 5th grade of junior school (i.e. almost since their first meeting), which were gradually growing stronger. And, according to her face's redness and frequented breathing he could say that those feelings only grew stronger during that year they were separated.

"Ah… I'm… well…" Of course she couldn't properly justify her actions.

For a moment Ichika wanted to sit closer, but then he thought that teasing her right after her defeat wouldn't be wise. Instead he decided to stick with social talking. "That reminds me…" He said, looking into the window, "About evenings like this, in the middle school, when you were treating me with free sweet and sour pork after football matches…"

"Ah… yes… I remember it as well…" Seemingly Rin also remembered, and for some reason that brought nostalgic but sad smile on her face.

"Honestly, I'd love to have your father's food again," Ichika noted.

"Oh, well... my dad doesn't do that anymore," Rin replied with deep sigh.

"Really? Why not?" Ichika wondered.

"Thing is, my parents got a divorce..." Ichika could easily read the pain on Rin's face, "…that's why I returned to China."

"Ah, I understand, sorry for asking," Ichika quickly apologized. Honestly, other families' problems were the last things he was interested in. Though, when she mentioned it, Ichika remembered that Rin was very emotional just before she moved back to China. Back then, she acted cheery, but Ichika's eyes weren't the things you can trick easily.

"It's been a year since I last saw Dad. I guess he's still okay," Rin said sadly, "Basically, my mom got custody of me. Since women are so dominant in today's society... you know."

"Yes, yes… though…" Ichika smiled as his eyes suddenly flashed with infernal light, and slight shiver ran along Rin's spine from that smile… as if there was something about all that…

Rin was still sitting in bed's corner, but during the talk she relaxed her legs, and her miniature bare feet were now in Ichika's reach. "Yah!" Girl yelped as Ichika flicked her right toe. Her face reddened again as Ichika stood up from bed.

"Okay, I need to see Chifuyu onee-san," He said.

"Ichika…" Rin called for him quietly as he was already near door. "Are you regretting about today's tournament cancelation?" She was sure that he'll be the winner. "I've heard that they've decided to forfeit it instead of rescheduling it."

"Not at all," Ichika replied. "I'm much more interested in the next month's all-school tournament, though it is much more important for second and third grade students…" He waved to Rin, "Anyway, get better." He left the infirmary and closed the door.

And when Ichika left, Rin suddenly understand something. _'As he is now, I guess winning against Ichika is impossible,'_ Girl thought. _'He's just amazing, but… I still can prove that I'm the best sparring partner for him… I just need to defeat all other girls…'_ With that positive thought, Rin smiled to herself.

* * *

Fifty meters below the academy's grounds was a secret place that only people with level 4 access could enter.

The remains of the I.S. that Ichika destroyed were picked up from gulf's bottom and transported here. Over the past two hours, Chifuyu had been painstakingly reviewing all available videos of that battle. The room was dark, Chifuyu's face, lit only by the console screens, wore a cold expression.

"Orimura-sensei?" Maya Yamada's image popped up on a screen. She was reviewing data on a tablet computer.

"You may enter," Chifuyu said.

Maya strode in with an unusual sense of purpose, "I've completed the analysis of the rogue I.S. parts," She reported.

"And?" Chifuyu asked.

"Well, sadly, we only managed to pick up 'limbs' of the rogue I.S., entire 'body' part of the frame was completely destroyed, thus, only a few memory banks remained," Maya informed. "Seemingly, Orimura-san's last attack was especially powerful…"

"No doubts…" Chifuyu said darkly.

"I'm not taking any chances," Quiet voice noted from behind, "That thing had to be obliterated once and for all."

"Ah?!" Maya almost jumped from unexpectedness, she didn't think that here could be someone else, "Orimura-san?! You're here?!"

"Don't be so surprised," Ichika noted indifferently, "Aside from that I was the one who fought with that thing, I'm also a military representative here. Our Navy are quite interesting to know what exactly fell into our waters…"

"Ah… yes… well…" Maya mumbled, she still couldn't get used to fact that Ichika's also a military officer.

"So? What have you found?" Chifuyu asked again.

"Ah, yes…" Maya coughed, "According to that I've managed to analyze, it really turned out to be an unmanned drone."

"That's we already know," Ichika noted casually. "By the way," He noted, "Ms. Alcott was informed that this information is strictly classified."

All over the world, countries and organizations are continually experimenting to push the I.S. technology forward. Remote control and autonomous movement were two popular technologies for research, and one of those was almost certainly used to control the rogue I.S. Just how far the world had progressed with that technology was something members of the I.S. Academy were ordered to keep quiet.

"We are not sure about how the rogue I.S. was controlled," Maya said humbly.

"...and the core?" Chifuyu asked.

"Seemingly it was completely destroyed," Yamada-sensei replied, "Along with the rest of the 'body' part of rogue I.S., no trace of it. However, according to memory banks, which we were able to restore, the rogue I.S. core…"

"…was unregistered?" Ichika finished Maya's phrase with ironic face expression.

"How…?" Surprised Maya wanted to ask Ichika how did he know, but Chifuyu didn't let her.

"So, not registered?" Orimura-sensei asked, then muttered, "As I expected."

"What's this about? Do you know something?" Maya was moving her sight from one Orimura to another.

"No, nothing. Not yet," Chifuyu looked back at the console screens with steel in her gaze – a look more appropriate for a warrior than a teacher – a look that left no doubt she was once a legendary pilot who stood above all others.

"Just my intuition," Ichika replied indifferently, as his heterochromic eyes were glowing in this dark room.

Maya got a strong feeling that siblings actually know something they ain't willing to share with others yet… "Anyway, I'm returning to laboratory, maybe I'll be able to learn something else," As she said that, Yamada-sensei left the room.

"Unregistered core, high-power red lasers… a lot of coincidences…" Ichika noted as Maya left. Chifuyu didn't reply.

"Orimura, why you asked for Cecilia's help?" Chifuyu wondered. Since she didn't use Ichika's first name, that was an official question.

"I've trained with her for about a month, you know I'm prefer to use people, whose capabilities are well known to me," He replied. "Besides, **Blue Tears** , has good firepower… Of course, if I had a choice, I'd prefer to call for **Kurazakura** and its pilot, but…"

"Don't start it again," Kurazakura's pilot, aka Chifuyu Orimura, looked at her brother with stern glare…

"As you wish…" Ichika's eyes slightly flashed in darkness.

* * *

When Ichika returned to his room, it was already past 10 PM. He came to window and looked into it. Outside was already dark, but many artificial lights weren't allowing Academy to sank into darkness. He stepped away from the window and approached to his table, raising his right, artificial palm, as if holding something. Within a moment, light particles began to shine in the room, and second later Ichika was holding a glowing sphere in his hand.

That was the rogue I.S. core, which Ichika managed to transfer into his quantum space right before the enemy I.S. exploded. It was quite hard and risky task to slice enemy unit in half, without damaging the core, but no one should underestimate Ichika's eyes and his ability to analyze I.S. units. Even with unmanned drone, Ichika's guess about core location was correct.

"I'm sorry that I had to deceive you, my dear sister…" He said, looking at glowing sphere. He was really sorry about that, deceiving Chifuyu was quite unpleasant thing to do for Ichika. "But I had no choice… Your code of honor won't allow you to do what has to be done. I'll deal with that myself…"

Ichika knew the risks. He told everyone that rogue I.S. exploded, and its core most likely turned to dust together with it. Stealing and hiding unregistered I.S. core definitely was a very wrong thing to do. But for now, it will be a secret… and when time will come, it will be a matter no longer.

Glowing core disappeared back to quantum space. Ichika stretched his limbs, "Okay, I think I'll go to sleep earlier today," He decided.

*Knock* *Knock* Ichika already put off his coat as someone knocked to the door of his room.

"Yes?" He asked, opening the door. Houki was standing in front of him, wearing her characteristic scowl. However, her face was red and she was breathing heavily, as if she's ran some distance.

"Well? Would you come in?" Ichika asked. No sense to keep her at the doorstep.

"No, I'll just stay here," She replied, as she just continued to scowl at the ground.

"Really?" He asked with unmasked sarcasm.

"Yeah," She mumbled.

Ichika sighed, "Houki, you do understand that I'm tired? If you don't have anything to say, I'm going to shower."

"Of course I have to say something!" She suddenly shouted, as if she was accused in some mortal crime and now was offered to justify herself. Honestly, shouting that loud in the corridor wasn't a good idea, since today Chifuyu was staying in the academy for the night. Besides, with that shout she deserved very cold glare from Ichika.

"Ne-Next month, in the individual tournament..." She finally started to talk, stuttering.

Next month's tournament will be different from the class representative tournament. ALL STUDENTS in the academy will participate, and there aren't many special conditions other than separating the students by year. The fact that a personal I.S. gives a contestant an overwhelming advantage won't change, though.

"If, if I win..." Houki was blushing furiously and stuttering. For some reason, she was keeping glancing nervously at Ichika. "If I win..." Houki's hand shot out and pointed at Ichika's face, "You have to go out with me!" Her last phrase sounded like a declaration of war.

Ichika, however, just smiled as his eyes flashed, and that smile cooled down Houki warrior's spirit in an instant. "Houki, you do understand that phrase 'If I win the tournament' means 'If I win against Orimura Ichika'?" He asked. "As such, you made an unreachable condition, because only I can defeat myself."

Houki made a step back, and looked at Ichika with a strange emotion, which Ichika could describe as 'hatred'. She seemed greatly discouraged. But that was not what Ichika wanted. He looked at her with evaluating sight.

"Okay, let's put it another way, shall we?" Ichika said, making a step towards Houki. "No need to win the tournament, just be my opponent in final match," He said. "If you'll manage to become my opponent in finale, I will be at your disposal for entire weekend," Ichika suggested.

"Who… whole… weekend…" Houki stuttered, stepping backward, until she found herself pressed to the corridor's wall. She seemed shocked.

"Yes, consider it as a two days long date," Ichika's eyes were still glowing with that infernal light, "Whole weekend, only you and me…" He could swear he never saw Houki so much scared, excited and embarrassed at the same time.

* * *

June 3rd, 1:19 PM

First Sunday of the month. As usual on weekend, Ichika was in city, however, right now he was in Gotanda residence. Gotanda Dan was Ichika's classmate from middle school. Not that they were friends as Dan was pretty common guy from almost every aspect, but he was a good midfielder (football player), as such, he was a member of Ichika's football team.

Today they've met in city by accident, and little by little, it ended up with Ichika being invited for a launch. That was another reason why Ichika knew Dan better than other classmates – just like Rin's family, Gotanda family owned a restaurant, and of course genius-captain of football team could usually get a free meal here. Not that Ichika was fond of freebee, but back than he had no own source of money, so free dinners weren't superfluous.

Anyway, free lunch was just a reason to lure Ichika into Dan's house, as he was very interested in certain topic. Right now they were in Dan's room, waiting for lunch to be prepared. Ichika stood, leaning on the wall near door as Dan was sitting on his bed. "C'mon, of course I'm talking about the all-girls school. There should be many good things over there, right?" Dan asked.

"It depends," Ichika replied indifferently. "It is true that I'm surrounded with more than 350 girls, 15-18 years old, but if you're imagining some endless underground strip club with illegal age teenage girls, you're gravely mistaken."

"Only you can imagine something like that…" Dan mumbled, seriously, he never could understand how genius' mind works. "I mean, c'mon, in the middle school, any girl would squeal in excitement if you just smile to her!"

"So?" Ichika replied quite coldly, "I came to that academy with certain goals to achieve, and 350 squealing girls have nothing to do with that."

 _'And here we go again, just like in middle school…'_ Dan thought as he sighed powerlessly. Seriously, he never could understand his former team captain's way of thinking. _'How he can think about some "goals" with so many girls around…'_

As Dan wanted to ask something else about all-girl school, someone interrupted the conversation. "Onii, hurry up and come eat already. Lunch is ready!"

Kicking the door down and walking in was Dan's younger sister, Gotanda Ran. She's a year younger than him, and is now in her senior year of middle school. According to Ichika's information, she was an honor student in a prestigious private girls' school, and a student council president, no less. Considering that, she's really different from her older brother. As she barged into the room, looking at her elder brother, she didn't immediately notice Ichika.

"long time no see, Ran. How are you doing?" Ichika asked from aside with quiet voice.

For a second, Ran froze like paralyzed. Then she slowly turned to Ichika, and her face expression was like she was expecting to see an alien. "Ichika-sama?!" Her eyes were saucers-wide.

Actually, Ran was quite nice girl, with cute face and long, blood-colored hair. And of course she knew Ichika, not only because he was visiting her family's restaurant. Since her brother was in football team, she saw several matches… and of course she was fascinated with brilliant team's captain and his devilish charm…

She looked at herself, seemingly examining her outfit. Her waist-length hair was tied back with only a hair clip holding it from behind, and she was wearing shorts (with half-zipped fly and unbuttoned button, so her pink panties could be seen), and a sleeveless vest (with no bra, and it is worth to mention that her chest was almost as flat as Rin's). Nothing special for a girl to dress up like that when she's at home, with only her family around. Ichika got used to it, starting with his elder sister and ending with entire I.S. Academy, where almost every girl was dressed up so skimpily after classes.

As Ran finished examining herself, her face became a bit blue. It was an interested scene, as, looking into Ichika's eyes, Ran seemed like a rabbit entranced by cobra. "I-It's not that… well, you are here...? I heard that you went to a boarding school..." Ran was babbling incoherently.

"Oh, that's right. But I had some busyness on naval base, besides, I wanted to check up on my house, so I went out and met Dan by chance, and he invited me for a lunch," Ichika explained.

"I, I see..." Ran mumbled. It seemed like her most cherished wish right now was to just disappear.

"Ran, you could at least knock, right? You'll be considered a shameless woman…" Dan tried to said but Ran instantly turned to him and he immediately shut his mouth. It's rather interesting to see how quickly girl can turn from scared rabbit into raging lioness. However, Ichika was still here so she couldn't start to sort things out with her brother right now.

At that moment, Ichika decided to have mercy on poor girl. He turned to window and made several steps toward it. Using that moment, Ran flew out of the room like a bullet. "Ichika-sama, please come down in five minutes, I'll serve a lunch for you," Her voice sounded from corridor.

"You haven't told her that you invited me here, ain't you?" Ichika asked, turning to Dan, though answer was obvious. "You're dead meat, you know that?"

"I guess so…" Dan mumbled as few drops of sweat appeared on his forehead.

* * *

As it's been said, five minutes later Dan and Ichika went downstairs. "Wha…?!" Dan exclaimed as he and Ichika entered the restaurant (it was on first floor of Gotanda residence). Their lunch was already prepared and laid out on the table, and someone was already sitting there.

"Ichika-sama, is that alright if we all have lunch together? If you want to, nii can go eat alone outside." Sitting over there was Ran, and fact that she even removed 'o' before 'nii', referring to her elder brother, meant that she's really displeased.

"Did you hear that, Ichika? Those super gentle words made me wanna cry!" Dan pretended that he's wiping tears.

"Man, I really think that you'd better be silent for a while…" Ichika commented silently, before turning to Ran, "It should be alright for us to have lunch together. Besides, there are other customers around, let's hurry up and sit."

"That's right, stupid brother, hurry up and sit down," Ran urged Dan.

Ran's home get-up disappeared, and she let her hair down, giving off an impressive shine. Now she was wearing white sleeveless dress and black stockings. She changed her clothes for Ichika. That was so cute… but also quite predictable. Right now, Dan was speculating about Ichika's life among many girls, Ran was arguing with him… but Ichika wasn't listening at all. For some reason, he was remembering purple-haired, brilliant-minded oddball, the only woman in the world he couldn't read like an open book. _'Interesting… what's she plotting…'_

*SMACK* Ran smashed her palms on table, returning Ichika from world of his thoughts. "...we'll talk about that later..." She hissed at her brother.

"Well, I, I have to do something later…" Dan stuttered.

"Then, tonight," Seemingly, she was really tired from Dan's foolish babbling. "And now, I've decided."

"Yes, what did you decide on?" Ichika wondered, Ran seemingly didn't notice sarcasm in his words.

"I'm taking the I.S. Academy entrance exam next year," She declared.

"What, what are you saying…" Dan tried to say.

"Shut up!" Ran growled.

"Why do you want to go there? If I remember correctly, your school is a direct path to very prestigious university," Ichika noted.

"No problem. I can get in with just my grades," Ran replied humbly.

 _'Grades aren't the point here…'_ Ichika mentally facepalmed as Ran showed her I.S. suitability test – A rank.

"So, so Ichika-san, please guide me through as my sempai..." Girl smiled humbly.

Ichika smiled and his eyes flashed with that infernal light, _'There are ten months ahead, Ran. With things going as they are now, who knows what will happen…'_

* * *

About 7 PM. Ichika's room. Outside of it, a girl with lively twin ponytails was standing, staring at room's door. From aside it looked like she wanted to knock to the door, but couldn't dare. Rin made a deep breath, seemingly, she decided.

"Rin, what are you doing?" Quiet voice asked from behind.

"Yaaah!" Rin yelped as she jumped from unexpectedness. "Stop doing that!" She demanded, as her heart was pounding in her chest.

"Still, what are you doing here?" Ichika ignored her complaint.

"I… well… I just wanted to go to cafeteria with you…" She said, seemingly she just wanted to spend time with Ichika.

"Ah, sorry, but I already had a dinner," Ichika replied. "I'm just from canteen, and I only came to take some stuff from my room, I'm going to engineering department right now."

"Oh… wait, what? Engineering? Now?" Rin seemed disappointed, but topic about engineering caught her attention.

"Yes," Ichika replied as he opened his rooms' door, quickly entered, grabbed some box that looked like a plastic suitcase, came out, and closed the door. He continued to speak while doing all that, "I finally got data I needed from our I.S. R&D department," He said. "Despite these researches were conducted to improve I.S. hypersensors, I found much more interesting way to use them. I will use them to improve my weapon as now I can finally finish constructing molecular oscillator and upgrade electro-magnetic accelerator and plasma ejectors with it."

"Molecular… what?" Rin asked, scratching back of her head.

"Molecular oscillator," Ichika said again. "I'm going to upgrade my weapon with ability to force synchronous oscillation for particles in plasma charges. Frequency modulated plasma bursts have higher energy and they are more stable, thus they can exist longer, their piercing and destructive capabilities are increased."

Rin was looking at Ichika with dull sight, because she didn't understand anything from what she just heard, and maybe that's why Ichika decided to tell her about his new upgrades. "There are still more ways to improve plasma weapons," Ichika added, heading towards exit from dormitory, "As soon as I get more data…"

* * *

Ichika left, and Rin was walking towards cafeteria. Despite she didn't understand Ichika's explanations (she even didn't memorize any detail), she actually got one thing – his powerful weapon, **Ragnarök** , will be even more powerful at the time of tournament.

The individual division tournament… As its name indicates, it's an individual tournament, and it will be held the entire week. As for the reason why, it's because everyone's required to take part.

Each grade has about 120 students. As there are so many people taking part in it, the scale of this tournament's pretty big. The school will use this chance to assess the talent level of the first years, the growth and learning abilities of the second years, and the in-depth combat abilities of the third years.

The third year tournament is all the more important; forget about the scouts from the I.S. related enterprises, even the high-ranked officials of all the countries seem like they will be here. That's really important event, end everyone was preparing for it.

Rin was taking a sober view of things – she won't be able to defeat Ichika. Yes, she was training almost every day since her defeat, but considering difference in their levels, it still will be the same. Besides, Ichika also was training… Right now, Rin could only pray in hope that Ichika won't be her first opponent.

* * *

June 4th, 8:18 AM

"As expected, Hazuki Company's still the best."

"Eh? Really? But doesn't Hazuki only focus on design?"

"That's why it's good."

"In terms of functions, I find Myurei's to be really good, especially the smooth and slick style."

"Ah, that, it's good, but expensive."

On Monday morning, all the girls in the class are chatting away happily. Everyone's holding onto a catalog and comparing the products on them. Girls were choosing I.S. outfits.

"Speaking of which, Orimura-sama, where's your I.S. outfit been produced? I've never seen that model before," One of girls asked.

"It's custom-made," Ichika replied indifferently, "After all, that is the world first I.S. outfit made for a man."

"Choosing a proper I.S. outfit is very important," Yamada-sensei said as she entered the classroom and saw about what everyone was talking about. "The I.S. suit will detect the weak electricity on the skin and pass the signals of the user's movements to all the parts of the body before the I.S. can take action…"

 _'That's not the only way…'_ Ichika thought as he hear Maya's words.

"…Also, this suit is really durable, it can completely withstand a mini-caliber gunshot. Ah, but the impact won't vanish. Please remember it," Sensei gave a clear explanation.

"Yama-chan's really so knowledgeable!" A girl exclaimed with smile.

"I'm a teacher after all... hold it, Ya-Yama-chan?" Maya seemed a bit shocked as she was called like that.

"I really have to look at Yamapi differently!" Another girl smiled.

"Today's the day when everyone has to request for their attire, so I came earlier… no wait, Ya… Yamapi?" Maya now looked offended.

It's been only 2 months, and Yamada-sensei already got eight strange nicknames.

"Maa-yan's really a serious person!"

"We all like Mayamaya!"

"Mayamaya? Don't you think that Yamaya sounds better?"

"Yamaya?! Pl-please don't call me that!" Yamada-sensei protested with emphasis… maybe she has some bad memories about the that nickname.

"Orimura-sama, which nickname fits Maya-chan better?" One of girls asked for Ichika's opinion. That was the nail in the coffin as Maya seemed like she's about to cry. Ichika, her pupil, was addressed with his last name and with '-sama' honorific, while teacher got a ton of strange nicknames.

 _'That's what you got for treating them as equals, my dear Maya,'_ Ichika looked at poor sensei without mercy in his eyes, that was her own fault.

"Al… alright, everyone must call me 'sensei', got it? Got it?" Yamada-sensei commanded, though it sounded more like a plea.

Though everyone replied with a 'yes', that was just a random perfunctory. She's definitely going to get more nicknames in the future.

"Good morning, everyone," Calm woman's voice said.

"Good morning sensei!" Everyone replied as one. The classroom that was noisy just now immediately became quiet as all girls immediately took their seats. The homeroom teacher of class one, Orimura Chifuyu-sensei has arrived.

 _'And that's the difference…'_ Ichika again looked at Maya. Chifuyu was radiating self-confidence (but not arrogance) and self-respect. By the way, she now was wearing summer clothes that Ichika prepared for her yesterday. It was strange, but with all her majesty, Chifuyu still was relying on her brother in such things…

"From today onwards, we'll be having practical training," Chifuyu announced. "As there are training suits, we'll be using I.S., so everyone must pay attention! Don't forget to put on the school regulated attire before you get your own I.S. suits. Anyone who forgets will have to wear the school swimsuit!"

Until now, those without personal I.S. units were learning basic moves and maneuvers only theoretically, for that purpose Chifuyu was making personal I.S. units owners (aka Cecilia and Ichika) to demonstrate those moves and maneuvers. However, starting today, all student going to use training I.S. suits for practice.

"If that's clear, then, Yamada-sensei, please begin the homeroom," After the briefing, Chifuyu handed it over to Yamada-sensei.

"O-okay…" Maya stuttered. Yamada-sensei seemed to be rubbing her eyes as she frantically put her glasses back, looking like a panicking puppy. Was she actually crying because of those nicknames? That won't give her an extra portion of respect for sure…

"Well, today, I'll be introducing some transfer students, and there are two of them."

"""WHAAAAAT...!?"""

On hearing the introduction of transfer students, all girls in the class exploded. Can't be helped, to the class that feeds on gossip even during their meals, it's to be expected that they would be shocked now that a transfer student slipped past their information network, and there are two of them. Ichika, on the other hand, was interested very little… And while all girls were still in shock, the door opened.

"Excuse me," One of newcomers said as two new students entered the class. And once they did, the buzzing quietened down. That's to be expected. That's because one of them… was a boy.

"I'm Charles Dunois from France. I'm not too familiar with this country, so please take care of me," One of the transfer students, Charles, smiled and bowed to everyone after saying that.

Excluding Ichika (and his sister) everyone in the class was stunned.

"A, a guy...?" Someone muttered.

"Yes. I heard that there's someone in the same situation as me here. So I transferred here from my country," Boy smiled.

 _'No Adam's apple, slightly bent forearms, these neat small palms with index fingers of the same length as ring fingers,'_ These were facts, gathered by emperor's eyes within those thirteen seconds while this "boy" was introducing himself. Also, Ichika noticed that "boy's" breathing was somehow obstructed. Considering previously noticed facts, probably that was due to some tourniquet-like thing to hide breasts. _'If you're a boy than I'm Kurumi Tokisaki,'_ Ichika smiled as his eyes flashed with infernal light, _'But nice try, girl…'_

He looked around. Everyone else in class seemed fooled, as girls began to squeal:

"A male student! A second male student at that!"

"And he's in our class!"

"And he's handsome! The type that you want to protect!"

"I'm so grateful to be able to live in this world!"

As expected, Chifuyu didn't like that, "That's enough! Settle down and shut up!" Ichika looked at his elder sister but as she noticed his gaze she deliberately turned away. Did Chifuyu understand that this one is a girl, or not, that was hard to say, but Ichika was sure that she did.

Actually, no one did forget about the other transfer student, or rather, it's quite difficult to forget about her. That's because she looked like a unique radical.

She had shiny silver hair that's almost white, and the hair's almost reaching her waist. It's pretty, but she didn't tidy it, so it just seems like it's naturally long. Also, she has an eyepatch on her left eye; the other opened eye was red, and it looked somehow similar to Ichika's eyes – the temperature deep inside it was lower than zero. And her stance was quite interesting as well – she stood like a well-trained soldier, and right now she was openly staring at Chifuyu.

"...Hurry up and greet them, Laura," Orimura-sensei urged her.

"Yes, instructor," Girl replied.

Chifuyu, who got a greeting by a foreigner, revealed a somehow troubled look, "Don't call me that here, I'm no longer an instructor. And you're an ordinary student here, so you must call me Orimura-sensei."

"Roger that," Girl nodded.

 _'Ah, so that's who it was,'_ Ichika thought.

Being thankful to German military, as they provided her with information about Ichika's whereabouts when he was kidnapped, Chifuyu worked as an Army instructor in Germany for one year, and after that she became an I.S. Academy instructor. Seemingly, this girl was one of her trainees.

"I'm Laura Bodewig," Girl introduced herself.

The students remain silent, waiting for her to continue, but after she said her name, she hasn't said a word.

"Is, is that... all?" Unable to stand this atmosphere, Yamada-sensei tried to force a smile as she asked Laura.

"That's all," Laura gave an unrelenting answer.

 _'Maya, seriously…'_ Ichika sighed.

At that moment, Laura and Ichika exchanged looks. "So it's you…" She said.

Everything happed within a second. Laura raised her arm and tried to slap Ichika's face. If she'd hit, that would be a vicious slap, but Ichika foresaw it. He leaned back, avoiding her hand, after which he grabbed her shoulder and pushed her forward, using inertia of Laura's own body, thus forcing her to turn around. At the same time, he made a reverse low sweep with right leg, hitting Laura's legs. In the next moment Laura was lying face down, kissing the floor.

"That's the way to get acquainted, I give you that. I guess I also shall introduce myself then?" Ichika asked. He was standing above her, with emotionless expression on his face and his right foot standing on Laura's head, "I am Orimura Ichika. Pleased to meet you…"

* * *

And that's it for Chapter III, see you soon people, don't forget about **review.**


	4. Equalizer

**Hello, everyone. Here I am with the new chapter, let's roll!**

For those who wrote their **reviews** :

 **Cloud Narukami, kuro yaksha:** No, I'd not say that it will be a harem story. It will be pairing or dual pairing with some harem elements, at least now I'm planning it like that.

 **Imperial-samaB, Redmoon2, Telron, DarkBladerZX, kreep13, xHalcyon, Guest, rajdiangelo, killjoytommy, FateBurn, Ravelt Knightwalker, sleipnir34, New Universe Returns,:** Thanks for your support people, here's the new chapter.

Chifuyu and Tabane will be getting more and more 'screen' time starting from summer camp events and onward. 

* * *

**Chapter IV – Equalizer**

…

June 4th, 8:42 AM

"…I guess I also shall introduce myself then?" Ichika asked, pressing Laura's head to the floor with his boot, "I am Orimura Ichika. Pleased to meet you…"

That scene, however, didn't last long as Ichika was grabbed by his shoulders and forcibly dragged out of the classroom by his sister. "Bodewig, get on your sit," Chifuyu ordered before she closed the door shut behind herself and Ichika.

"What the hell are you doing, you scoundrel?!" Chifuyu's growl could be heard through the closed door. In the meantime, Laura stood up on all four, her face was expressing deep shock, she seemingly didn't even understand what happened.

"That was a self-defense," Ichika's voice replied as entire class was carefully listening to the conversation beyond classroom's door, at the same time staring at Laura. "She tried to hit me, you saw it yourself, Orimura-sensei."

"You could just stop her," Chifuyu sounded quiet displeased, "We already had this conversation, aren't we?"

"I could, but then she wouldn't have learned her lesson," Ichika replied indifferently. "By the way, can I assume that this is that doggy you were training for a year? Honestly, I was expecting to see a German shepherd, but that is Chihuahua. You were training that Chihuahua? That's the way to waste an entire year…" Ichika noted casually.

BOOM! Seemingly, Chifuyu slammed her fist into the wall, entire class flinched. "Ichika, if you won't shut your mouth immediately, you'll regret that!" Since she called him by his first name, she was no longer a teacher, whose student committed an act of violence against another student, she was an elder sister, whose brother was behaving like a scum. Honestly, only two people in the world could infuriate Chifuyu to that extent. Their conversation lasted for about two more minutes (though only Chifuyu was talking and her voice was too quiet for people in the classroom to hear what she was saying exactly, however, there were little doubts that she was sorting things out with her brother, as, in particular, that case about Chifuyu working as instructor in Germany actually was a state secret).

Classroom's door opened and Chifuyu returned to classroom, with Ichika following her. Laura was on her feet, but she still stood near Ichika's seat. "Bodewig, haven't I told you to take your seat?" Chifuyu asked, and that sounded like an order, with voice that left no place for objections. Laura obeyed, as she quickly backed away and sat down on the empty seat. Ichika took his seat. Seemingly, Chifuyu deliberately didn't force Ichika to apologize to Laura, as it only would humiliate her more.

Ichika was sitting as if nothing happened, while Laura was sitting with her eye shut, though her hands were trembling with rage. After that Yamada-sensei said few things about practice lessons, Chifuyu clapped her hands to prompt everyone into action, "Homeroom lesson will end now. Everyone has to change up, as we'll be doing I.S. practice together with Class 2. Dismissed!"

Ichika stood up and headed towards classroom exit. He couldn't stay in classroom as girls are going to change into I.S. suits here, and they probably would be against Ichika's presence… at least some of them. As such, he had to find some other place to change into I.S. suit. Though, since they're going to second arena, it means that its changing room is free now.

"Hey, Orimura," Chifuyu called for her brother when he was passing by her, "Since you're both guys, take care of Dunois."

Ichika stopped and looked at his sister with little surprise, "What, you want me to play along?" He asked quietly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Chifuyu replied, with voice that only make Ichika more confident that she perfectly knows what he's talking about.

"And you dare to call me a sadist, after that?" He whispered, returning back to class.

"Are you Orimura-kun. We've met for the first time, I'm…" Ichika didn't let that girl (in boyish disguise) to finish her phrase as he grabbed Charles's hand and walked out of the classroom, pulling her along. _'Interesting, onee-san wants me to find out why this girl's pretending to be a boy, or she just think that it's fun…'_ Ichika thought. _'By the way, what's her real name? Probably similar to that she's using now… maybe Charlene? Oh well, I'll call her Charles for now, anyway.'_

"We'll change in the changing room at the arena, and we have to do that for every practical session in future, so you'd better get used to it quickly," Ichika explained about where they're heading now.

"O-Okay..." Charles replied. Actually, she was looking rather anxious. Of course, probably Ichika made rather weird expression on her, knocking another girl off her feet… Does she now think that he's violent towards all classmates? Well, from commoner's point of view, Ichika really overreacted, but still, that Laura started it as she tried to hit him, and entire class saw it.

 _'Ah, probably that's what it is…'_ Ichika noticed that she was constantly throwing glances at his arm, which was holding her arm. _'She's one of those girls whose heart began to beat faster due to direct skin contact with opposite gender…'_ Honestly, he was a bit disappointed, though, he was the one whose reaction was abnormal. Of course, Ichika grew up under the same roof with Chifuyu and Tabane hanging around, and that was hard to imagine that any of those two would be excited just because some boy would take their hand (actually, for normal boy it could be dangerous…)

Anyway, right now it wasn't important, as they have to reach changing room at second arena.

"Ahh! Rumored transfer student detected!"

"And he's together with Orimura-sama!"

Ah, and that's where troubles appeared. Once homeroom period is over, all the students from all classes and all years will send out their elite troops. If they'll catch Charles, that poor 'guy' we'll be questioned until the end of intermission between classes, which means two possibilities – he'll be late for practice, which means that Ichika has failed his task to 'take care of Dunois'; or they both be late. In either way, Chifuyu won't be pleased, and since Ichika already enraged her today it would be very, very bad situation…

"Stay close and follow me, as if your life's at stake," Ichika warned quietly, and then headed forward, right towards crowd of girls. "Ladies, I'm very sorry, but we're in hurry, please spare your questions for after school," He said, still moving forward, and pulling Dunois behind himself. That was quite weird scene – hundreds of girls flooded the corridor, but then Ichika was approaching, they all were making a step aside, making a passage for him and his 'protégé'… Seemingly, for them Ichika was like flame for a moth, it was so tempting to approach him but they all were afraid to burn their wings…

"Wha… What's going on? Why is everyone like this?" Charles asked as It seemed that she hasn't got what's going on, and 'boy' looked really puzzled now.

"Isn't that obvious? We're the only two guys in this entire academy," Ichika replied. _'You signed for it yourself, girl…'_

"Um…?" In response Ichika got 'I don't understand' look.

"And not only that, we're "very special guys, which can pilot an I.S.," Ichika explained. "On the other hand, majority of the girls here came from girls-only middle schools, so now, sinking in their own estrogen, they're craving to at least talk with boys a bit."

"Ah… ahh… okay. I see." Dunois nodded. Honestly, Ichika's explanation was a bit offensive towards all girls, but Ichika used such words intentionally.

"Well, it's rather interesting, by the way," Ichika said as they were going downstairs, still closely followed by crowd of students.

"What's interesting?" Charles wondered.

"I won't say that It's really hard for me to be the only guy in school, but still, sometimes there are things that guys only can discuss between themselves, you know, things that girls shouldn't hear for their own sake…" Ichika said, as Charles gulped when she heard that, though that was exact reaction he was expecting. "Anyway, nice to meet you, I'm Ichika Orimura, you may call me Ichika."

"Hmm, nice to meet you, Ichika-san. You can just call me Charles," Girl replied with somehow forced smile. That probably was only natural, because feeling that most girls were experiencing towards Ichika could be called an 'awe'. There was some sort of oppressive aura around him, and no doubt that girl, who called herself Charles, she also could feel it. But, unlike other girls, she'll be forced to stick much closer to him…

"Alright, Charles," Ichika said as arena's entrance air lock has been removed, the door slid aside, and Charles and Ichika entered 2nd arena's changing room.

"Very well, we're here, but here's not much time left, let's change quickly," Ichika said, suppressing ironic smile as he was actually interested to see how this 'boy' is going to change clothes in front of him. He himself unbuttoned his one-sleeved coat and threw it on bench, and then removed his black sleeveless T-shirt. Speaking of which, Ichika had no problems with completely undressing in front of a girl, besides, for his age he was very well built.

"Uwah!" Charles yelped as 'he' saw Ichika undressing.

"What is it now?" Ichika asked, removing his pants, though he perfectly knew what's is it, as girl's face was blushing heavily. "Man, why aren't you changing? I'd strongly suggest you to stop wasting time, as our homeroom teacher has very low tolerance towards latecomers," Ichika continued to play his role.

"O-Okay, I, I'll change. But, erm, can you please look at the other side... please?" Charles words sounded like a plea.

"Hmpf… very well," Ichika agreed. It's good that this poor girl didn't know that his emperor's eyes have 360 degrees' field of vision. Despite he was facing away, Ichika still was able to see everything behind his back. Charles also turned away, seemingly she didn't want to see Ichika naked (or her teenage head would explode). She began to change clothes, and she was doing it remarkably quickly. Still, when she removed her jacket and shirt Ichika got a confirmation to his guess – she really was wearing a broad tourniquet to hide her breasts (Ichika was sure that enduring such a pressure is quite unhealthy for woman's breasts, by the way). And when she removed her pants and panties – well, no more doubts – she's a girl. Girl with nice curves, straight legs and quite palatable butt.

Anyway, as Ichika put on his I.S. suit pants, she already was fully dressed into I.S. suit (Ichika was a bit distracted, examining her body, though). "Oh, you're fast at changing," Ichika noted as he put on his I.S. suit top.

"Wow, Ichika-san, your I.S. suit looks… remarkable…" She said as he was finally fully dressed up. His suit looked like carbon-colored suit for surfing, with large image of phoenix on his chest.

"Well, when I made some requests, several companies volunteered to make suit for me, so I actually had a choice," Ichika explained. "By the way, yours seems to be custom-made as well." Well, that's obvious as male's I.S. suit should be custom made.

"Ah, um, this is a suit created by Dunois Enterprise. Though it was developed through the basic Greek design, it seems to be a thoroughly customized version," Charles replied.

"By the way, I wanted to ask – your last name sounds just like the name of the company you just mentioned, you are related somehow?" Ichika wondered, though not that he was really interested.

"Yup, that's my family's company. My dad's the President, I guess it should be the largest I.S. related enterprise in France," She explained.

 _'Oh, so she's a daughter of I.S. related company's president… now it's becoming a bit interesting…'_ Ichika thought.

"Well, compared to me, Ichika-san's even more impressive, right? That you're Orimura Chifuyu-san's little brother," Charles changed subject.

"You think?" Ichika asked with irony, "Anyway, let's get going."

* * *

When he entered arena, Ichika was extrapolating the image of naked Charles he just saw, trying to imagine how she's going to look when she will be 18 years old. "Since you have time to think about such useless things, hurry up and get in line!" Chifuyu ordered as soon as Ichika and Charles appeared on 2nd arena. Seemingly, Ichika's thoughts were too loud… Though they haven't come late, they were the last from their class.

"Ichika-san, what happened in the class just now?" Cecilia was standing beside Ichika. Oh, what a coincidence. Since she and Ichika were two personal I.S. owners in class 1-1, she always was standing next to him. And since their 'duel' in April, she was very interested in all events with Ichika being involved. "You know that new girl?"

"Yes, what's the relationships between you two?" Rin was standing right behind Ichika. Seemingly, rumors about little confrontation between Ichika and Laura already reached class two, with lots of details. "Don't tell me she's your former girlfriend or something?!" Rin liked to jump to (usually wrong) conclusions.

"I'm pretty sure that it was our first meeting…" Ichika waved both girls off.

"I got it, I got it. Ichika-san's really popular with girls, right? So they just want to hit him with no reason…" Cecilia mumbled.

"Ichika, you definitely know something," Rin couldn't settle down.

*PANG* *PANG* Under the azure sky, two smacks of the attendance book sounded loud and clear as Chifuyu helped both girls to clear up their thoughts.

* * *

"First, we'll be watching a practical battle that involves close range and shooting," Chifuyu announced.

"Yes ma'am!" As it's a combined practical between class one and class two, there's double the number of people as per usual, and even the replies sound a lot louder.

"Kuu... how could she just hit my head like that..."

"...It's all Ichika's fault. It's all Ichika's fault. It's all Ichika's fault..."

Teary-eyed, Cecilia and Rin were mumbling, rubbing their heads, as being hit by attendance book like that actually was quire painful.

 _'Girls are funny beings, after all…'_ Ichika thought with irony.

"Today, I would like to let everyone see a real battle," Chifuyu declared, "And there just so happen to be two lively girls here present – Huang, Alcott, step forward!"

""What, me?!"" Both girls complained at the same time.

"Since you two have personal suits, you can start battle immediately. Okay, get out here," Chifuyu ordered.

"Why me..." Cecilia moaned as she unwillingly stepped forward.

"It's definitely Ichika's fault, so why..." Rin whimpered, following Cecilia.

"You two better buck up, don't you want to show that guy of what you two are made of?" Chifuyu silently whispered as two girls approached her.

"This is the stage for me, the representative candidate for England, Cecilia Alcott!" Cecilia suddenly began to radiate those 'princess vibes' again.

"That's right. It's a great chance to show everyone the difference in ability as a personal I.S. pilot!" Rin also perked up as that competitive smirk appeared on her face.

For some reason, both their motivation values just shot up. "What did Orimura-sensei say to them just now?" Charles asked as she witnessed sudden change in two girls' attitude.

"Don't even ask," Ichika replied, looking at his sister with narrowed eyes as he managed to lip-read what she said, and most likely she let him do it deliberately.

"Then who's my opponent? I'm alright even if it's against Rin-san!" Cecilia announced.

"Fufu, that's my line. I'll slaughter you," Rin pointed at blonde.

"No need to rush, idiots," Chifuyu intervened, "Your opponent will be…"

At that moment, everyone could hear strange sound, as well as desperate woman's scream, "Ah! Ple… Please get out of the way!" Everyone looked up, only to see green I.S. falling down from the sky, and according to its trajectory it'll fall right to the place where now two classes are lined up. All girls ran into different directions.

"Oh come on…" Ichika sighed as white light engulfed his body and he deployed **Messiah**. POOF! Green I.S. collided with Ichika, eliciting the cloud of dust. As dust cloud dissipated, Ichika appeared holding another I.S. and its pilot with two hands. Actually, it wasn't a collision, with his eyes Ichika easily calculated trajectory and caught falling I.S. The I.S. pilot appeared to be Maya Yamada, and Ichika now was holding her bride-style.

"That, that, Orimura-san... kya!" She yelped as she suddenly realized her situation.

"Yamada-sensei, are you alright?" Ichika asked, still not letting her go.

"Ah, Orimura-san... Yes, I'm okay…" She bubbled, as her face was flushing heavily.

"I'm so envious to Yama-chan…"

"Yamapi is so lucky…"

"I want to be on Maa-yan's place!"

Ichika could hear other girls' envious voices, though now he was a bit busy, examining Maya's body. She normally doesn't wear tight-fitting clothes, so it wasn't that obvious but the I.S. suit she was wearing now is completely different. Her hefty beautiful breast curves were exposed in front of everyone.

"Mmm… Orimura-kun... Would you please let me go?" Maya asked Ichika and her words sounded like a plea.

"Ah, of course," Ichika said casually as he released her, leaving her floating about six feet above the surface as he undeployed his I.S. By the way, despite Ichika wasn't looking at them directly, both Cecilia and Rin were looking at him (and at Maya) with hatred, and Houki… she was looking into the ground but Ichika could see veins on her forehead… she's angry…

"So then, little girls, let's start already," Chifuyu said, "Yamada-sensei is your opponent."

"Wha? Erm, 2 vs 1 is..." Cecilia looked at Chifuyu in surprise.

"No, this is too..." Rin mumbled

"Relax, if it's you two, you'll lose in no time," Orimura-sensei smiled cunningly, "Though Yamada-sensei doesn't look like it, she was a former representative candidate."

"Well, that was ages ago. And I never got past being a representative candidate..." Maya sighed.

Girls were already unhappy after seeing Ichika holding Maya in his arms, and now, after hearing that they would lose, Cecilia and Rin's wills started to boil, since it was important for them to beat an opponent at least once (as both lost their official matches), so their killing intent and power have risen.

"Then, let's start!" Cecilia and Rin shouted out as they flew up. Seeing this, Yamada-sensei followed them.

"I won't hold back!"

"I'm not like I was back then!"

Girls shouted their battlecries.

"Here I come!" Yamada-sensei was talking as per normal, but her eyes now were cool and sharp. Cecilia and Rin launched a preemptive attack, but Yamada-sensei easily dodged them.

"Then, during this time... Dunois, give a commentary on the I.S. Yamada-sensei's using," Chifuyu requested.

"Ok… Okay," Charles continued to watch the battle in the sky as she began to explain with a reliable voice, "The I.S. Yamada-sensei's using is a **Raphael Revive** from Dunois Enterprise. It's a machine developed at the end of the 2nd generation phase, but the specifications rival that of the early 3rd generation machines. In terms of deployed mass production I.S. models, it was the last to be sold, but has the 3rd largest user-base in the world. Only 7 countries are permitted to create it, and 12 countries use it as a standard I.S. Most notably, because of the controls it can allow pilots to fit what they want. By changing the equipment, it can be configured for all types of combat, including close ranged combat, sniping and defending types, so there are many partnering companies working on it."

While Charles was explaining, Ichika was watching battle in the sky. In fact, both Rin and Cecilia were moving better than during their matches against Ichika. However, despite it had to be a 2 vs 1 combat, actually it looked like three-way battle royal, as both Cecilia and Rin were trying to show their superiority against another…

"Mm, that's enough for now, Dunois…" Chifuyu stopped Charles's explanation, "It's ending!"

Yamada-sensei's maneuvers and shots lured Cecilia and Rin to collide into each other. As they crashed, Yamada-sensei then equipped a grenade-launcher and launched a grenade at them, and once the explosion occurred, two figures crashed onto the ground in a puff of smoke just like that. Technically, girls haven't lost yet as their shields were still up, but for demonstration that was more than enough.

"Ku, ugh... to think that I actually..." Cecilia moaned.

"Ah, you... she predicted so much of your evasive maneuvers, it's so silly..." Rin complained.

"Is-Isn't it the same for you, Rin-san? We failed because you made too many meaningless mixed tactics and **Impact Cannon** attacks!"

"That's my line! Why did you release your **Blue Tears** immediately? The power was depleted so fast!"

"Ggggrrr...!"

"Kkhhhss...!"

They were growling and hissing at each other. Ichika could see the 'representative candidates with their personal suits' value was falling drastically. However, the most heartless thing seems to be that there's seemingly no limit how deep they can fall. In the end, both of them continued to glare at one another, until the girls of class 1-1 and class 1-2 started to chuckle.

"Alright, everyone should understand the ability of the teachers now. From now onwards, please show some respect to the staff members," Orimura-sensei clapped twice to divert everyone's attention.

"The ones with personal frames are Orimura, Alcott, Dunois, Bodewig, and Huang. Then, we'll be dividing the class into five groups. Personal machine users will act as leaders, got that? Split up now." There were 32 students in class one and 31 in class two, so there should be three groups with 13 students and two with 12. However…

The instant Chifuyu finished her phrase, the two classes of girls rushed over to Charles and Ichika.

"Orimura-kun, let's work hard together!"

"Teach me what I don't know!"

"Hey, hey, can I join in too?"

Ah, yes, an hour ago Ichika threw a girl on the floor, and girls from both classes knew about that. But attitude towards him haven't changed a bit. In contrary, Laura now was considered as a bad person, who forced Ichika to defend himself. Honestly, her behavior was supporting that point of view.

"Dunois-kun, please show me your piloting skills."

"Let me join you, too!"

By the way, new 'boy' wasn't left without attention…

Either because she couldn't stand this situation or because she was angry that she didn't foresee this, Chifuyu pressed onto her forehead with her fingers, feeling really bothered as she bellowed, "These idiots… Everyone sort out according to seating arrangements! Group leader order will be as described! If you don't get sorted into groups fast, you people will carry I.S. units and run around the field one hundred times!"

Ah, that was a devil's roar… The girls, who were surrounding Ichika and Charles like ants, all moved quickly and managed to get into their groups within one minute. "I should have done this from the beginning. Really, they're a bunch of idiots," Chifuyu sighed.

"…That's great. I'm in the same group as Orimura-sama! I'm really grateful for my own surname..." Girl with short red hair said joyfully.

"…Sigh… It's Cecilia... she just lost so badly... and before that, too…" Girl from Cecilia's group mumbled quietly.

"…I'll be in your care, Rin-san. Please tell me more about Orimura-sama..." Girls from Rin's group also weren't happy.

"…Dunois-kun! You can ask me about anything you don't know about our academy! Also, I'm still single!…" In contrary, girls from Charles' group seemed quite pleased… if they only knew…

The only group, in which no one was saying anything was the group of that German transfer student – Laura Bodewig. The tense atmosphere, the presence that refuses to work with others, the cold stare-down on the other students, and the mouth that never spoke since the beginning. Only thing she was doing is glaring hatefully at Ichika from time to time. Facing such an iron wall, even those pure-hearted 12 girls wouldn't even dare to talk to her. All of them stood, looking to the ground, not daring to say anything.

"Then, please listen up. Each group is to take one training suit. There are three **Uchigane** and two **Revives** , so each group, please decide on the type of frame you like the most. Ah, it's first comes first served," Maya gave instructions. Yamada-sensei's seem more confident now. The mock battle just now really helped…

"Orimura-sama, please teach me how to pilot an I.S!"

"Aahh, this I.S. is really heavy. I never lifted anything heavier than chopsticks."

"I remember that the practical lessons require 2 people in a group. Orimura-sama, please let's start."

"Hey, hey, it's great to have a personal I.S., right? I'm so envious of you people…"

Girls in Ichika's group took the opportunity to surround him, and since he's the group leader, he couldn't just ignore them. By the way, Houki's also in his group…

"Every leader is to assist each group member in putting on the suit. As everyone needs to use it, we removed the optimizing and personalizing modes. Anyway, before lunch today, everyone please practice on the initializing," On the I.S. broadcast channel, Yamada-sensei's voice could be heard. "So then, please queue up in order of your student number. Practice your walking."

"Register №1! Aikawa Kiyoka of the Handball club! My hobbies are watching sports and jogging!" Girl with dark crimson eyes and purple hair jumped forward. "Nice to meet you!" She bowed deeply and extended her right hand out. Seemingly, she wanted to shake hands with Ichika.

"Aa, that's too sneaky!"

"I wanna do that as well!"

"Please make a choice based on your first impression!"

For some reason, all the other girls, except Houki, lined up and bowed politely, like her, extending out their right hands. From aside, that looked quite cute as those girls were looking like little kittens… Though, Ichika was indifferent to kitties, he decided that it's easier to simply shake their hand, so after that they'll proceed quickly.

"""Please take care of us!""" At this moment, several another voices could be heard from behind.

Behind Ichika, there was another row of people, which were bowing in front of Charles, each waiting to shake hands with him. She seemed quite troubled, to say the least.

"""Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"""

That was a chorus of perfectly timed cries. Yes, yes, the attendance book's still as hard as always, and it's quite easy to use it on girls' heads as all of them are lined up… As Charles's girls were rubbing their heads and looking up, they all seem to realize that nightmare is especially horrible when it smiles… "It's great that you people have that much of enthusiasm. If that's the case, let me see your performance. Who's first?" Chifuyu asked, and girls seemed chilled to the bones by kindness of her voice.

"Ah, no, that's..."

"We, we'll just have Dunois-kun teaching us... that's all."

"How, how can we let sensei trouble herself..."

"Oh, there's no problem at all," Chifuyu assured them, "There's no need to be so polite. In sake of your prospects, I must give you all a certain level of training... ahh, alright, let's start by seating arrangement."

 _'I have the best sister in the world,'_ Ichika smiled to himself, words in his head sounded ironic, but they were completely honest. "Shall we proceed?" He asked girls in front of him. Seeing the terrible state that befallen Charles's group of girls, the fear struck Ichika's group, and they naturally fell in line. Right now, Aikawa was opening the exterior of the I.S. controls to confirm the values. Their group was using second generation I.S. unit of **Uchigane** type.

Naturally, there were no problems with the suiting up, initializing and walking, and the practice went by smoothly. However, when time has come for a second girl to suit up, there a small problem appeared.

"I'm sorry, but, I can't reach the cockpit..." Green-haired girl pointed at I.S.

Right… Actually, that was Ichika's fault. While Aikawa was practicing walking, he submerged into his own thoughts, so he forgot to remind her that she has to kneel down before getting out of the cockpit. And now unit was in a standing position.

"What's wrong?" Yamada-sensei asked as she approached.

"I'm sorry, but it seems that I forgot to instruct Aikawa-san to leave the I.S. in bent down position…" Ichika admitted. "Nevertheless, that shouldn't be a problem," He assured Maya as light engulfed him and Ichika again deployed **Messiah**.

"Yeah, that's right," Maya nodded as she understood what Ichika wanted to do, "That'd be safest solution, please carry Kishisato-san up."

"What?! Why?!" Houki jumped in. Oh, well, it's obvious why she didn't like this idea…

"Since the I.S. can fly, if he just needs to send her into the cockpit, this would be the most suitable method," Maya explained, though it seemed obvious.

"There's no need to do that. Just let him be a stepping board!" Houki stated, "Hey?!" She shouted as she saw that Ichika simply ignored her.

"Then let's hurry up, Kishisato-san," Ichika said as he grabbed the girl with both hands.

"Che… whatever!" Houki just turned her back to Ichika and walked away.

"Hiyaaa!?" Kishisato let out a strange sound, "O… Orimura-sama's really forceful..."

"Hold on tight or you'll drop," Ichika warned.

"O-Okay..." She mumbled in response.

After confirming that Kishisato-san's grabbing onto his shoulder with slightly trembling hands, Ichika slowly raised her up. "Then, move your back in and raise your body up. Also, it's better to put your hand on the armor there. Do you understand?" Ichika instructed her.

"I, I'm okay," She replied with slightly trembling voice.

As Ichika haven't let go of her yet, their conversation was held in a rather tight position. Kishisato-san's eyes were wavering about… was she excited?

"I'm letting go now. Are you ready?" Ichika asked.

"Huh? Th… This..." She stuttered.

"Is there a problem?" He wondered.

"It's more like I'm in dreamland..." She whispered. Ichika mentally facepalmed.

While Ichika was busy with transporting Kishisato, the other groups were starting to talk.

"Ahhh! Wha… What's that?!"

"That's too sly! I want to be carried like that!"

"Why?! Why's my register number is 14?! I'll hate the ancestor who gave me this family name, until the end of time!"

"Any… Anyway, I'm okay. Hurry back, Orimura-sama. If this keeps up, I don't know what will happen to me later..." Kishisato mumbled.

"I understand…" Ichika said with irony. "Try activating it then." As he said that, the unit's initiation started. The opened armor locked up and secured the pilot inside.

* * *

The practical training seemed like it was a success, and the second girl finished activating the I.S. and walking. Before Ichika managed to say something, she seemed like she just thought of something as she removed the I.S. while it was still in a standing position. With that, the cockpit's stuck on top like how it was before. Ichika, however, showed no reaction on it, as that was expected. He perfectly saw those glares that remaining 11 girls were sending to the one who was practicing just now. If she'd left I.S. in bent down position, those 11 definitely would become her lifetime enemies.

Of course, Ichika could threaten that girl by himself, surely she wouldn't dare to disobey him. However, that really would make him to look like a bad guy, and that wasn't worth it. He decided that it's not that hard to grant a few seconds of happiness for those remaining girls, carrying each one of them into cockpit within his arms.

All the other girls in other groups were looking in envy, of course they also wanted to be carried like princesses. However, Devil Lilith aka Chifuyu had other thoughts about that matter, "Oh, so you still have time to look at other places, right? To reward you of your boredom, I'll let you run 20 laps around the field. How is it? Are you satisfied?".

"""Tha… Thank you, sensei...""" They moaned in chorus.

"Okay, who's next?" Ichika asked, ignoring what was happening in other groups.

"Ahem," After clearing her throat to get ready her feelings, Houki tried to act calm as she said, "Me."

"Very well, c'mon," Ichika said as he approached her and wrapped his arm around her waist. For Houki it looked like it was happening in slow motion. As his hand reached over, Houki's heart started to beat faster, and her body temperature began to increase.

"Ahhh!" She let out quite lustful moan. _'I-Id-Idiot! Who in the world carries someone so suddenly like that!? Is, is he trying to scare me... speaking of which, it feels like he's so well-trained...'_ Though Ichika was wearing closed helmet, Houki couldn't see his face, but it seemed even cooler that way – like a princess carried by mysterious hero…

"Well, you're well acquainted with this I.S. unit, so I guess you don't need my instructions," Ichika noted, bringing Houki closer to cockpit.

"Ichika," Houki asked as she already was in training I.S. cockpit and Ichika was about to step away.

"Yes? What is it?" He asked.

"We… Well… You see, do you have plans for lunch today?" Though she was trying to act calm, her voice obviously was a bit louder than usual.

"Sorry, but yes," Ichika replied. "Chifuyu asked me to take care of that new guy, and I have to show him where canteen and cafeteria are. And after that I have to go to engineering, there are some things I need to prepare." Houki tried to hide it, but she was disappointed. Ichika just smiled, "Houki, my room is just next to yours," He winked to her, "If you want to see me alone, just knock to my door…"

"Ah?!" Houki's face reddened, but Ichika turned away and stepped aside, not giving her any chances to say something foolish.

* * *

"Then, please let me repeat this again. It's nice to meet you," Ichika greeted his new roommate again.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too, Ichika-san," Charles nodded. As expected, that girl became Ichika's roommate, as for now only Ichika knows that she's a girl.

Well, it was expected that she'll be settled in Ichika's room in such circumstances. To be honest, Ichika wasn't glad about that, as being the only room resident has many advantages, like listening music anytime he wanted, shower cabin's always free, besides, Ichika needed some place where he could gather his thoughts. On the other hand, he had no intentions to play this game for long anyway.

Time was 10:34 PM. "Sorry that I had to leave you alone in canteen," Ichika said, "But I have a lot of things to do before inter-class tournament…" Ichika ate quickly and left to engineering, leaving Charles alone, allowing countless girls to surround her, so she was assaulted with questions, and it lasted for hours…

"Oh, no, it was nothing," She replied, though Ichika could see traces of stress on her face, seemingly, that 'interrogation' was quite bothersome.

"Here, take this," Ichika offered Charles a cup of black tea he just brewed. "Assembled and packed directly in Sri Lanka, it's hard to find a better taste."

"Oh, it's nice," She made a sip, "Though I'm surprised, I've heard that people here prefer 'Japanese tea'."

"Some of us do," Ichika nodded, "But I'm not among them. I'm sort of 'white crow' here, because, despite I'm Japanese, I prefer Eastern European cuisine."

"I see," Charles replied, "You really are interesting person, Ichika-san," She smiled. Honestly, this girl's smile was gentle and natural, trying to be a boy really doesn't suit her… "By the way, are you always coming back to your room that late?"

"Usually I'm trying to return until 10 PM, but few last weeks I was working on something in engendering, and I was eager to finish it today," Ichika replied.

"Really?" Charles perked up, "What's that? I've heard that you made many modifications to your I.S. unit by yourself…"

Ichika looked at girl with evaluating sight. No doubts she already asked around and learned that Ichika possesses **Ragnarök** , a weapon that's capable of changing its form, so probably telling her about it won't hurt, even despite she's a potential adversary in inter-class tournament. "Well, I guess it's not a big secret," Ichika decided, "Since I'm going to use that in my trainings, I won't be able to keep it in secret anyway. In my last battle I was really missing a rapid-fire weapon, and I was working on it." When Ichika was creating his sniper rifle, **Ambassador** , he had a reference – Cecilia's **Starlight Mark III** , so he spent only three days. However, rapid-fire weapon was a green-field development, so it required much more time.

"You… you've developed a new weapon all by yourself?" Charles' eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes," Ichika replied as if that was nothing special. "If you want to see it, let's have a mock battle tomorrow, you have a personal unit, right?"

"Yes," Charles nodded, "Aright!"

* * *

June 5th, 7:09 PM

Time was about 7 PM, Ichika was on 3rd arena, with his I.S. unit already deployed. Though Ichika didn't informed anyone (aside from his usual 'followers' – Cecilia, Houki and Rin) about that he's going to have a mock battle with Charles, a lot of people assembled on arena's stand. Probably Charles mentioned it to someone earlier, without considering consequences. Though 7 PM was actually a bit late for mock battle, Ichika got special permission, because he had to go to the town after classes for a few hours.

"Sorry I'm late," Charles' voice said from behind. No doubts she came later deliberately, to be sure that she won't have to change to I.S. suit together with Ichika. She appeared from arena's gates with her I.S. unit deployed. Her unit looked like **Raphael Revive,** which Maya Yamada used yesterday, however it was colored orange, with some white elements, and seemed heavily modified.

"I just came myself," Ichika replied as Charles was looking around perplexedly, because she definitely didn't expect to see so many people on stands. She probably still couldn't completely comprehend the situation in which she was, pretending to be a boy. Mock battle between two boys was an event that definitely would draw a lot of (quite morbid) attention. "Okay, let's go," Ichika said as he began to gain altitude. Charles followed him and few seconds later both units were floating in air in seventy yards between each other. Ichika unit's wings began to glow, extending Fold Out armor, and switching plasma ejectors to thruster mode, seemingly he decided to go with full force from the very beginning. **Ragnarök** in its sword form, **Redeemer** , appeared in his hand, extending glowing plasma blade.

 _'So, this is Ragnarök… a weapon that can change its shape…'_ Just as Ichika expected, Charles made some researches and learned that Ichika's I.S. has only one weapon but it can change its shape, and shape-shift is very quick process. _'But what is that?'_ Charles thought as she saw Messiah's glowing wings, that was the first time when she was seeing Fold Out armor.

Since it wasn't an official match, here were no automatic countdown, so Ichika gave it himself: "Three! Two! One! Go!"

Ichika and Charles rushed against one another, however, Ichika used his plasma thrusters from the very start and distance between him and Charles shortened much faster that French pilot's anticipated. ' _What?!'_ Her eyes widened as she saw Ichika within two yards from herself, rising his sword, while she only began accelerating. Taken by surprise, she instinctively tried to use metal shield on her left hand to cower herself from sword attack.

However, that was what Ichika has expected. When Charles stopped and prepared to block the sword attack, Ichika, instead of using his sword, used his plasma thrusters to abruptly change his flight direction, and he almost instantly appeared above and behind Charles' I.S. At the same moment, his sword turned into three-barreled shotgun, **Arbiter** , and Ichika pointed it into Charles' back.

BOOM! Three plasma charges hit Charles' point plank, eliciting bright plasma flash. "Aaaa!" Charles screamed as her unit was sent down by powerful plasma blast. "Defensive armor pierced. Damage: 98. Shield damage: 270. Shield Energy remaining: 380. Actual damage assessment: Medium." Charles heard her I.S. report while she still was falling toward the ground. _'What the hell was that?!'_ She couldn't understand what just happened. She never could imagine that I.S. can accelerate so fast and change its trajectory so abruptly, besides, she just lost more than tierce of her shield points with only one hit.

"And now I'll show you what I was working on during last month, behold, **Ragnarök's** 5th shape – **Equalizer.** " Charles heard Ichika's voice over broadcast channel (he seemingly wanted everyone to hear it), while she still was trying to stabilize her machine. When she finally turned around Charles saw that Ichika's weapon again changed its shape. Now he was holding five-barreled heavy machinegun. Barrels were covered by half-transparent jacked, so glowing coils of electromagnetic accelerator could be seen, as well as glowing plasma core in the middle, between barrels.

"Lower your head…" Ichika said as he opened fire. Plasma charges were quite big, their energy capacity was just a bit lower than of sniper rifle, **Ambassador** (about 85%) and their velocity was also somewhat lower (815 m/s, or 2.4 M). At that moment Charles I.S. was assaulted with hail of plasma charges, as Equalizer's rate of fire was about 45 shots per second. Five barrels weren't rotating, they were just firing in turn in counterclockwise order.

By the way, shape of plasma charges, generated by Ichika's weapon, have changed. In his previous battles charges were like formless white bits of plasma, but now they became more ball-like, with more sharp contours, and they were more white, even with slight blue shade. These changes were thanks to molecular oscillator, recently installed by Ichika. Thanks to concerted particle oscillation, charges became more stable, enthalpy decreasing rate during charge accelerating was reduced, so charges became hotter, thus emittance temperature also increased.

 _'What the hell!?'_ French pilot couldn't understand what's going on, as, despite all her evasive maneuvers she couldn't avoid that plasma hell, created by Ichika's weapon, as he was shooting with lead compensation, using his eyes foreseeing capabilities. She managed to avoid direct hits, but plasma blasts around her were rapidly reducing her shield, and literally within several seconds her shield dropped to near zero, forcing her I.S. to activate absolute barrier.

Battle was over. In matter of pure fact, Charles, representative candidate for France, lost to Ichika within 48 seconds. French girl just couldn't comprehend what just happened. She didn't even equip any weapon, she simply was crushed by overwhelming force. _'What is that thing?!'_ Right now she was eyeing Ichika's I.S. with saucer-wide eyes. Not just that its acceleration and maneuverability was astonishing, that plasma machinegun… _'Power drain of that weapon should be insane! What's the power source of that I.S.?!'_

People on arena's stand also were shocked, most of them didn't even noticed what exactly happened.

"Am… amazing…" Rin whispered in awe; she, Cecilia and Houki also were watching battle from arena stand.

"Is that guy really so weak?" Houki wondered, looking at shocked and defeated Charles.

"No, he's not unskilled, it's looked like that because he was against Ichika-san and his I.S." Cecilia shook her head. "Ichika-san's great pilot, but that's not all of it, I also think it's just the difference between their I.S. units," She already saw full power of Messiah.

"4th generation I.S…" Rin mumbled, she remembered how easily Messiah threw away huge unmanned I.S. a month ago.

Ichika's machinegun disappeared into his quantum space. "Well, don't be too depressed," He said, and this time he used private channel. "It wasn't just difference between our skill levels, there are also huge technical gap. Your I.S., even if it's been modified, it's still 2nd generation machine, while Messiah is a full-fledged 4th generation I.S unit…"

"So it's actually was the truth…" Charles sighed… "Yesterday, in cafeteria, I've overheard some girls talking that your I.S. actually is 4th generation machine, but I didn't believe…" She still seemed a bit shocked. "All countries only began testing their 3rd generation prototypes, it was hard to believe that 4th generation unit can already exist…"

Charles and Ichika's conversation suddenly was interrupted

"Huh, look at that..."

"No way, that's the 3rd generation German model."

"I heard that it's still in the testing phase in their country..."

The arena started to buzz all of a sudden. At the same moment, Messiah reported about appearance of another I.S. unit nearby. Ichika lazily turned towards newcomer. Standing over there was the other transfer student, the German representative candidate, Laura Bodewig, with her I.S. deployed. Ever since the moment when she first transferred in, she had never interacted with anyone in class, let alone said a single word. She was a lonely and proud girl. Considering Ichika, their only interaction was when he made her kiss the floor when she just arrived.

"Hey," A voice could be heard from the I.S. communication channel. It was Laura herself. However, Ichika would never replied on such a disrespectful call. Though, despite Ichika ignored her, Laura continued to speak as she glided down. "It seems like you possess a personal IS. If that's the case, it's simple. Fight me." Seemingly, she didn't know that Ichika just had one battle, or she just didn't care, nor she was interested to know battle's result. She probably didn't even make any researches about Ichika, since only now she learned that he has personal unit, according to her own question.

"Get lost," Ichika replied indifferently. Actually, after this battle Ichika got some data, as it was the first time when he used his new machinegun in real battle, so he wanted to make few adjustments to Equalizer, but that girl ain't worth to explain his reasons to her.

"If it wasn't for your existence, instructor would have easily reclaimed the championship, so I will never, ever, agree to your existence!" Laura shouted, she definitely was eager to fight.

Dou to closed helmet no one could see it, but Ichika's eyes flashed with infernal light. Mentioning that incident… that girl really should have kept her mouth shut. "You want to fight me that badly?" Ichika asked with scornful voice. "Okay then, bark three times, and I'll fight you." There was a three seconds long silence. "What?" Ichika asked, "You're onee-san's Chihuahua, aren't you, then she at least had to teach you to bark when asked…" Of course, just like Laura, Ichika was talking via broadcast channel.

Laura was already shaking with fury. Without saying anything else she switched her I.S. into battle mode, pointed large railgun that was mounted on her left shoulder at Ichika and immediately shot out.

Ichika was prepared for that, as he already summoned his weapon and switched it into sniper rifle mode. He shot simultaneously with Laura. Laura's railgun shell and Ichika's plasma charge collided, causing shockwave.

"Pathetic attempt," Ichika commented.

"You, student over there! What are you doing! State your year, class and register number!" The teacher who was supervising this arena today interfered. In the end, Ichika only got permission for one mock battle, and that already was concluded. As such, Laura had to stand down, since the authority interfered she only could growl powerlessly and look at Ichika with unmasked hatred. She got rid of her battle mode and left the arena through the gates.

"Now, if you excuse me," Ichika said casually, as if nothing happened, turning back to Charles, "I'm heading to engineering, see you."

"Ah… yes, okay…" She said while Ichika was flying towards another gates. She seemingly still was under strong impression after her defeat, and after she saw how easily Ichika intercepted Laura's railgun shell with counter shot.

* * *

About 9:30 PM. Charlotte (when she was alone with herself she could use her real name) was in shower. In fact, she returned to her and Ichika's room right after their match, but after that she spent last two hours staring into the wall, before going for shower. Not that she was waiting for Ichika (he most likely will be back after 10 PM, just as yesterday), she was just thinking. And she was still thinking, while streams of hot water were flowing down along her smooth, youthful skin.

 _'Orimura Ichika… Just who… or even what are you?!'_ Even before their battle, she knew that Ichika is very good pilot. To be honest, mentally, she even was prepared for that her ass might be kicked. But she couldn't imagine that it'll be kicked so badly. _'48 seconds… and I even got no chance to fight back! How?!'_ They were so unequal…

 _'Oh well, if I think about that soberly, that was 4th generation I.S. after all. To think that 4th generation machine actually already exists… But…'_ Charlotte suddenly remembered about the very reason she's here. _'Damn…_ ' She was ordered to obtain data about Japanese newest I.S., and that would be **Byakushiki** , which is now bears the name ' **Messiah** '. But… that was easier to said than done.

Today, while Ichika was in city, Charlotte went to engineering. According to rumors, since his enrollment, Ichika, in total, spent several weeks here, doing different things, like tuning his I.S., upgrading his weapons and other things. But she couldn't find ANY traces of his activity there, no matter where she looked. She checked everything she could – main and auxiliary data banks, engineering console activity logs, even reserve drives, but she found nothing, as if he actually was never there!

On the other hand, girls from engineering department (who were taking additional I.S. servicing lessons), confirmed that they saw Ichika regularly, and he was doing some stuff, using engineering equipment here.

As such, all that knowledge was leaving only one possibility. _'Ichika deliberately was destroying all data about his activities, and he was doing it very carefully, as everything was wiped clean…'_ Charlotte came to conclusion.

No, in general, it's quite understandable – no one's willing to disclose his I.S. design documentation of course, at least until it's not in mass production state, but some service data should be accessible. For example, Charlotte found some service data about Cecilia's **Blue Tears** and Rin's **Shenlong** , as well as data about 2nd and 3rd grade students personal I.S. units. _'Ain't it just paranoia? Destroying data about all his actions…'_ Charlotte thought, closing the water in shower room. _'Oh well, maybe I'll be able to get data about other 3rd generation I.S. units. Maybe it'll be just enough to satisfy my father…'_

With those thought, Charlotte opened the shower room door and made a step out… and froze on place, as she almost bumped into Ichika, who stood in front of a washbowl, drying his hands with towel.

"I-I-I...chika...?!" She stuttered in shock.

* * *

Few minutes ago, 9:52 PM. Ichika returned to his room as he's finished some fine tuning of his new plasma machinegun, it didn't take too long. He heard water in shower room, his roommate was taking shower. _'What she was doing all these two hours since she left the arena? Why she's there right now… That's why I don't like living with a roommate.'_ He thought with slight irritation, he didn't take shower since their mock battle, and would like to take it now, yet shower cabin appeared to be occupied. At least he could wash his hands. However, when he just finished, and was standing, drying his hands with towel, water in shower room has been closed, door opened, and the one who was there came out, ignoring Ichika's presence and almost bumping into him.

Quite an eye-catching view opened to Ichika's eyes. A girl. Her drenched blond hair was long and curly, with such softness and elasticity, and she has nice long legs on her slender body. Her slender waist also indicates larger breasts than what they should be. Her breasts are probably at least size C no matter the measurements. The crystal clear skin carried beads of water on itself, and they looked as beautiful as diamonds. Well, actually Ichika already saw her naked, but this time he definitely got much better angle.

Anyway, the girl was completely naked, and Ichika was a bit surprised with her actions. Seemingly, that girl, who called herself Charles, was so deeply in her thoughts that she simply didn't notice someone's presence in changing room.

"Well, that's pretty bold, I give you that," Ichika commented as girl was staring at him in silent shock.

"KYAHH!" Suddenly recovering, the girl hurriedly covered her breasts and escapes back into the bathroom.

 _'Oh well, that was awkward, but at least that means I don't need to play along anymore,'_ Ichika thought as he returned to main room.

Two minutes later, the changing area door opened softly, and trembling female's voice said: "I… I'm done..."

"Okay, got it," Ichika replied, and, as if nothing happened, headed to the bathroom.

* * *

About ten minutes passed since Ichika came out from bathroom. He turned on his personal halo console and was reading today news or something, virtually ignoring Charles' presence. Girl was sitting on her bed, starring into the floor. Seemingly, she was gathering her thoughts.

"Ichika-san…" She finally spoke out. "You… you didn't seem surprised when… when you saw me… in shower room…"

Ichika turned towards her. "Well, actually I was a bit surprised. Since we've met, you were behaving quite humble, and now such a bold demonstration…"

"That's not what I mean!" She exclaimed resentfully. "Ichika no ecchi…" She mumbled very silently, but Ichika managed to lip-read that.

"Relax, I know what you meant," Ichika replied calmly. "You're asking about did I know that you're girl before I saw you in the bathroom? Yes," He began to reply to questions, that Charles no doubts wanted to ask. "Since when? Since the moment you were introduced to the class. Does anyone else know? I'm pretty sure that Chifuyu onee-san's aware of that as well, and she noticed that about the same instant as me; does anyone else know? Unlikely. By the way, she was the one who, maybe indirectly, asked me to not expose your true gender for now…"

"Why?" Charles seemed completely bewildered.

"No idea," Ichika replied. "Would you like some tea?" He asked casually.

"Huh, okay, I'll have some..." Girl replied, she still seemed heavily confused. Ichika boiled the water using the electric kettle and poured it into the teapot. Both were silent while tea leaves were dissolving.

"Okay, here's the cup," Ichika gave her a cup of tea.

"Thank, thank you," Charles received the teacup and took a gulp of tea. Ichika let her make a few more sips before he decided that she's ready to talk.

"Well, I guess that crossdressing as a guy wasn't your personal choice," He said, looking at girl, "Why did you do that?"

She made one more sip from teacup before replying. "That's because... that... my... someone in my family, he told me to do..."

"Hmm? Your family? That's the Dunois…" Ichika said quietly.

"Yes. My dad's the chairman of that company, and he ordered me to do it," She replied with deep sight. Ever since she began to talk, it looked obvious that Charles has some bad memories about it. "You see… well… I'm an illegitimate child."

Ichika slightly tilted his head, as it wasn't an answer for his question at all. He breathed deeply, as he already understood that instead of simple answer he's going to hear some sob story, but that's probably necessary if he actually wants to hear the answer…

"I was sent back 2 years ago, about the time when my mother died. My dad's subordinates came looking, took me to main facility and put me through many check-ups. They immediately found that my I.S. aptitude was extremely high, so... while it was unofficial, I was made a test pilot. I only met my dad twice, and only talked to him those two times. I usually stayed somewhere else, and was only summoned to the main house once… and it was horrible. I got beaten up by the real wife and labelled _'a thief's daughter'_. It was miserable... had my mother told me more, I wouldn't have been so lost. Ha ha ha…" Though Charles laughed softly, her voice was still dry and without emotion.

Only thing Ichika wanted to say is that Charles' father was rapidly losing points as a 'man', but he kept these thoughts to himself.

"After a while, the Dunois Corporation was facing a crisis," She said.

"So I've heard," Ichika nodded. "Your company got troubles with development 3rd generation armaments, if I remember correctly. It was mentioned in some article about EU's 'Ignition Plan'…"

"You're correct," She nodded. "Dunois Corporation has the third largest share of mass-produced I.S. in the world, but the Revive is still a second generation machine after all. I.S. development needs a lot of money, and most of the enterprises were only able to develop after getting the support of their respective country. However, just as you said, France was omitted from the European Union's "Ignition Plan", and facing this crisis, they had to create 3rd generation frames. Though it was out of national defense concerns, for a country that doesn't have enough capital, what awaits it is doom if they don't get any benefits right from the beginning."

"As far as I know, only England's project **Blue Tears,** Germany's **Schwarzer** [Black] and Italy's **Temporale II** [Thunderstorm II] are still in competition," Ichika said. "No wonder that some prototypes of all three projects are here, in I.S. academy." Cecilia Alcott was here with first prototype, **Blue Tears** itself. Laura Bodewig came here with one of Schwarzer prototypes, **Schwarzer Regen** [Black Rain]. And **Temporale II** belongs to 2nd grade Italian girl, whose name Ichika didn't know.

"You're right," Charles said. "Besides, Dunois Corporation, was the last one who started to sell 2nd generation units, which means we collected to little operational data… In the end, the situation had become one such that 'If the company fails in the next selection, the government will completely cut off funding and even revoke the rights to develop I.S.'," She explained.

"Okay, I've got the overall picture," Ichika concluded. "However, it still doesn't explain why you're pretending to be a boy. As much as I understand, you were sent here with primary goal to obtain data about other 3rd generation units, as far as I know, here, in I.S. academy, at least six different 3rd generation I.S. units. However, if you've come as a spy, you'd like to gain as little attention as possible. But you did completely opposite…"

"It's simple. I was supposed to gain publicity. And also…" Charles looked away from me and says with an anxious voice, "If I'm a guy, it'll be easier for me to approach the current irregular case that appeared in Japan. If possible, I'm to take his I.S. and biometric data back. Just like that."

"Ah, I see…" Ichika's snorted. "It's just the demonstration of that how little your father knows about me… He thought that another guy would be like a safety-valve for a poor boy, locked among 350 girls?" Ichika asked ironically.

Girl in front of him nodded, "Though he was so wrong, as I understand now…" She added with wry smile.

"Guys around me, including my former classmates and even football team members, I always was keeping them at arm's length," Ichika said. "I actually like girls more, but, in our case, boy or girl it doesn't matter, acquiring my secrets is not possible, I know how to work without leaving traces, I guess you already learned that?" Ichika asked with slightly arrogant face expression. Girl in front of Ichika just sighed deeply. "By the way," Ichika suddenly asked, "Charles isn't your real name, is it? What's your real name?" Ichika wondered, "I guess it's something similar, though… Are you Charlene?"

"No… it's Charlotte," She smiled sadly.

"Ah, so close…" Ichika said with false resentment. "Anyway, Ms. Dunois, what are you planning to do now?"

"I guess it depends on that person…" Charlotte said sadly. She talked about her real father like an outsider. That's not a father, that's just a stranger – that's the way she segregated him out of her life. "But since my cover was blown, I'll definitely be recalled back... as for Dunois' Corporation, whether it collapses or merges with other enterprises, it shouldn't be the same as now, right? And it doesn't matter to me anyway... Now, I guess it's a matter of time. When the French government learns the truth, they will revoke my rights as a representative candidate without saying a word. If I'm lucky, I'll spend some time in prison..." She gave another sad smile. "But still, I feel a lot better saying it out. Thank you for listening to me… Also, I'm sorry for lying to you. I'm sorry…"

"Hmpf," Ichika snorted, "There's nothing to be sorry about. More accurately, me and Chifuyu onee-san should be sorry for toying with you, since we knew everything from the very beginning… though, I'm not sorry, of course. But, more importantly… are you alright with destiny that awaits you?"

"That doesn't matter. I have no right to choose. This can't be helped…" She mumbled.

At that moment, Ichika's eyes flashed and Charlotte physically felt his scorn towards herself. "You know, if you were a guy, I'd really like you to spend some time in prison, for saying such idiotic words… but, since you're a girl…" He sighed. "I.S. Academy, clause number 21 of the special directive: students who are studying in this Academy will not be affiliated to any country, organization or syndicate. Without the student's agreement, external organizations are not allowed to manage them." Ichika turned towards window and added, "In other words, while you're the student of this academy, you and your I.S. are out of any government's reach. They can, and probably will, however, deprive you of your representative candidate status as soon as possible, and, after you graduate, you'll have to return them your I.S. unit as it still belongs to France… In any case, there are three years ahead of you, show yourself as a good pilot, and many countries or organizations may like to hire you and give you their citizenship and new personal I.S. unit. And this is only one of many possibilities…"

"Ichika…" Charlotte said with widened eyes, "You're really amazes me sometimes…" She really didn't know what more she could say. "But… can I really stay here?" She wondered. "After all that masquerade?"

Ichika turned back to her. "Ask my sister," He said shortly.

"What?!" Charlotte's eyes widened in fear.

"Hmm," Ichika smiled, and that was quite warm smile that only could be seen when he was talking about his elder sister. "Understandable reaction, but… maybe it's not obvious, but she definitely is the most kind and noble person in this entire facility. Until your actions have caused any harm to other students, she'll help you to resolve your situation… She still didn't say who you actually are, after all… By the way, I'm also not going to tell anyone yet, so you have time to think…" Ichika said, putting off his coat. Time was about 11 PM and he already was a bit sleepy.

"I… I don't know what to say…" Charlotte mumbled, despite all of her actions she was offered with the way out of her desperate position.

"Don't mention it," Ichika said casually, though he obviously has some plans about that girl, and one day she'll learn about that. "By the way… forgive me my curiosity, but… from which country was your mother? Your long, blond, slightly curly hair, cute small nose, few other features… it's not French, but more like Western-Slavonic appearance… She was from Czech?"

"Slovakia…" Girl smiled, flushing slightly as Ichika complimented her appearance… "You're really amazing…"

"I know," Ichika replied, adjusting his pillow. "One last thing. If you decide to stay here, I'd suggest you to admit that you're a girl as soon as possible. You'll have to do it sooner or later, and when other girls will learn that another girl was sharing the same room with me… well, here are some yandere characters that may try to tear us apart… but since most of them afraid of me – you may become the only victim, so don't think too long…" Saying that Ichika covered himself with blanked, saying, "Good night." His eyes already were closed so he didn't see how Charlotte gulped when he mentioned yandere characters…

* * *

And that's it for chapter four, don't forget to write a **review**!


	5. Dark Blood

**Hello, people. Here's the new chapter, I hope it's soon enough.**

For those who wrote their **review** s:

 **ZenithTempest, megakdre100, Imperial-samaB, Telron, DarkBladerZX, ARSLOTHES, Sacchin:** Thanks for your support people, it's really encouraging.

 **Sacchin:** I agree, she has an unusual character, and, knowing Ichika's character in this story, I'm guessing how their first interaction will be…

 **New Universe Returns:** Yes, it is.

 **Sajuuk:** There's no point for Ichika to 'scan' Charlotte's weapons as they're just guns, of larger caliber, to match I.S.-related purpose. As for Laura's railgun – it uses the same principle of EM-acceleration as Ichika's plasma weapon, only it fires solid shells instead of plasma charges.

 **berilium:** that you will get =)

 **JamboGolem324:** Well, I'm not 'most people' xD I know a lot of things…

* * *

 **Chapter V – Dark Blood**

…

June 5th, 11:18 PM.

One of dormitory's rooms. It was dark in there. In this heavy darkness, a person was staying there, alone. She didn't know when she started to become like this, but when she was born, she knew the blackness of darkness. It's said that humans will see light when they're first born, but this girl was different. She was brought up in darkness, born amongst the shadows, and this fact hadn't changed. In the room that was without light, her silhouette lurked in the darkness and the red eye was shining darkly.

'Laura Bodewig'. She knew that it was her name, but at the same time, she didn't understand the significance behind it. But there was one exception, that was when she was called by the instructor – only when she was called by Orimura Chifuyu, only then she felt that her name had a special significance, and that was lifting up her spirits. _'That person's existence... that unrivaled strength has always been my goal, and my reason to live...'_

It was like a ray of light. When she first met Chifuyu, she was stunned by that indomitable power. Fearful, moved and delighted, the feelings reverberated within her, making her feel hot. She then made such a wish.

 _'Ahh, I really want to be like her. I want to be like such a person,'_ That was Laura's dream.

The originally empty places within Laura were quickly filled up, forming her everything. And Chifuyu was her teacher and also had absolute strength. She was the complete incarnation of Laura's ideals.

That was the only existence, to be 'like her'.

So she can't forgive those who aren't complete.

 _'Orimura Ichika – the person who caused the instructor to be blemished...'_ Laura clenched her fists. Insolent and indifferent, she can't agree with that person's existence. _'I must eliminate him, no matter the means...'_

With burning dark will, Laura silently closed her eyes and merged with the darkness as she sank into a slumber without dreams…

* * *

June 10th, 9:44 AM.

Sitting in classroom and staring into the window, Houki was thinking about this month's tournament. Ah, no, Ichika was careful, so no one but he and Houki were aware of his promise to take Houki for weekend-long date, but still, before that, there were two problems…

First, there's no way that everyone would remain oblivious about the fact that Houki was on two days long date with Ichika. To be honest, Houki thought that 'the secret relationship that only they know' fits her agenda, and she always had this goal. However, feelings went amok on a 15+ year old girl who's growing up, and nobody can blame her. Even if her tone's more traditional than normal and that others don't think that she'll do such things, Houki's wishes aren't any different from Cecilia, Rin, or most other girls. And that's why this is a problem. Ichika is like the saint here, so almost entire 'blame' for that date will be on her.

 _'An-Anyway, I've got to do this! It'll be alright once it's done! It won't be like that time. It's alright, it's alright...I guess,'_ She thought. And that's where the second problem lies…

Tabane… Since Houki's elder sister invented I.S., her entire family was put under VIP government protection. Because of that she had to forfeit national kendo championship, to leave her school and, probably, her only real friend behind. Yes, Houki knew that Ichika actually was more interested in her sister's company, but still was considering herself Ichika's friend. And now he was far away… Ever since that day, Houki never liked Tabane. Or rather, she hated her.

Then, before she realized it, she was forced to stay apart from her parents, and the culprit behind this, Tabane, gone missing. As her older sister was involved, Houki had to undergo many invigilations and investigations, and her heart and soul crumbled, unwilling to go on. It was good thing that she didn't know about that, unlike Houki herself, her elder sister, Tabane, was in contact with Ichika this entire time or her hatred would have burned her from inside…

In those days, the only thing she hadn't given up was kendo, for she felt that kendo was the only thing that was linking her to Ichika. But even though she won the national championship few months ago, it didn't really satisfy her. The reason is fast and simple. That's because kendo was 'just a way for her to blow off steam'. She just wanted to beat anyone down into the ground.

That's right, that was what she thought. However, the blade is a mirror that will reflect her expression, and once that extremely ugly look of hers heavily struck back to her, she was so mortified that she felt like she wanted to leave the prize award ceremony.

And what drew her into deeper despair was when she saw her opponent crying after losing to her in this state. _'What was I doing...'_ Houki thought guiltily. Her actions were just violence, not strength. Strength doesn't refer to this, and she knows of this... very clearly – that's what she thought.

She again shook her head. It would be great to dump the adhesive-like memories away, but the human heart can't do such a simple thing. _'This time, I will... I should be able to win without misunderstanding of meaning of the word strength..._ _No, I have to win! For myself. To get back my old self!'_

However, winning this time was impossible. _He_ will be the winner, no doubts. But, that's not the problem this time. Even meeting with him in final would be enough to fulfill her promise. Problem is that, this time, she has no clear-cut advantage. In contrary, this time she's at disadvantage. Cecilia… Rin… they both will be participating and they both personal I.S. owners. That girl from class 1-4, Sarashiki Kanzashi (though Houki never saw her on arena with her personal I.S.), it is known fact that she possesses personal unit as well. And now, this two newcomers – Charles Dunois and Laura Bodewig, both with personal units.

As far as Houki knew, their grade has 32 (1-1) + 31 (1-2) + 30 (1-3) + 31 (1-4) students, 124 in total. Which means that tournament net will be looking like that: 124 → 64 → 32 → 16 → 8 → 4 → 2 → 1 participants, in other words, to win the tournament you have to win seven battles (six, if you're very lucky, since here's 124 students, not 128, four lucky girls will skip the first round).

Including Ichika, their grade has six personal units' owners. Houki had some confidence in herself, in the end, among those who wasn't a personal unit owner she was the most experienced, as she trained with Ichika several times, so, most likely, she can win against any regular student in her grade. But what to do with personal units' owners? All of them are much more experienced (they all are representative candidates for a reason). Their units are more advanced, while regular students like Houki will be using standard ' **Uchigane** ' and ' **Revives** ', both 2nd generation units. Besides, pilots with personal I.S. have much better synergy with their machines.

 _'Do I have a chance against personal unit owner?'_ Houki asked herself. Situation looked really grim. Of course there's a chance that all personal units' owners will eliminate each other and Houki won't have to fight any of them (except for Ichika, of course), but depending on such luck… that's not Houki's way of doing things. _'Damn… It won't be easy…'_

Suddenly, Ichika's words popped up in Houki's head: _'For the vast majority of people in this world, getting personal I.S. is simply impossible. However, for Shinonono Tabane's sister it's extremely easy. All you need to do, Shinonono Houki, is to step on the throat of your stubbornness, and make a call.'_ Houki closed her eyes and clenched her fists. _'No way!'_ Houki vowed. Relationships between her and Tabane were too complicated.

*PANG!* Houki got hit by attendance book which was as hard as ever. "Shinonono, if your thoughts are more important than that what I'm saying, would you mind to share your thoughts with us?" Chifuyu asked. Seemingly, Houki was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't even noticed that entire class already gathered and HRS has started.

* * *

June 21th, 7:57 PM.

About 8 PM. Ichika was walking back to his dormitory room, today was just a routine training on 1st arena. Approaching the dormitory, Ichika suddenly heard quite a loud yell from behind the corner. "Why are you a teacher here?!" No doubts that was Laura Bodewig.

"What a headache..." Irritated voice replied, and that one belongs to Chifuyu for sure. "Don't let me repeat this again. I have my duties to perform, that's all."

Ichika wasn't interesting in listening that conversation, in the end it was his sister's affairs, so he simply continued his way towards his room. Seemingly, there was nothing else that could cause the ice-like transfer student Laura Bodewig to be so agitated. From what they're saying, Laura seems to be expressing her discontent about Chifuyu's current job and her idol worship-like emotions towards Ichika's elder sister.

"What kind of duties can you possibly have in this small far-east country!?" Laura was so carried away that she didn't even notice (or simply ignored) that someone's approaching her and Chifuyu. "Please instructor. Please come back to Germany to guide us. You can't even show off half your abilities here."

"Oh?" Chifuyu looked at Laura coldly.

"Basically, the students over here aren't worth teaching!" Laura exclaimed.

"And why is that?" Chifuyu asked, and her voice sounded with the same indifference as Ichika's when he's uninterested in something. They're siblings, no doubts.

"They aren't prepared enough. They have too little sense of danger, they think that I.S. is a trendy thing, those low-class people…" At that moment Ichika passed by Laura and she immediately stopped talking and stared at him with cold hatred. Ichika, however, passed by silently, right now he has nothing to say to his sister, at least while strangers are around.

"End of the line, little lady," Chifuyu stated coldly, reverting Laura's attention back to herself.

"Ugh...!" German girl gulped, as she was forced to forget about hated Ichika for now. Chifuyu's voice had a terrifying presence, and even Laura seemed to be afraid of the huge intent hidden in the voice as she didn't try to argue anymore, simply unable to continue.

"To think that you believe you're rather good after we haven't met in a while, is it? Just 15 years old, and you think that you're superior to others. I'm impressed." Chifuyu simply crashed all Laura's enthusiasm.

"I, I'm..." Girl's voice was trembling now. She probably felt terrified… well, that's to be expected. What else she could feel in front of that overwhelming force?

"Alright, it's already late. Get back to your room," With Chifuyu voice reverting back to normal, Laura leaves quickly and silently...

* * *

June 22th, 2:44 PM.

Thursday's afternoon. "So, you are going for special training today?" Charlotte asked as she (still in male disguise) and Ichika were walking down the corridor side by side after classes.

"Well, yeah," Ichika replied, "However, as far as I remember, arenas are closed due to preparation to IDT [Individual Division Tournament], the only arena that still can be used by students is…"

"The 3rd arena," Houki's voice intervened into their conversation.

"Wah!" Charlotte jumped up in shock as she heard an unexpected voice; Ichika, on the other hand, showed no reaction, as he noticed Houki long before she spoke out.

"...Is there a need to be shocked? That's rude," Houki frowned.

"Who got shocked?" Ichika asked indifferently.

"Sorry, I got shocked. It was too sudden," Charlotte apologized politely.

"Ah, no, I'm not blaming you..." Seeing Charlotte bowing down properly, even Houki's momentum got cut by half. And then, seemingly feeling like she lost face, Houki deliberately coughed a few times to change the topic. "Anyway, let's head to the 3rd arena," Houki suggested, "I heard that there will be very few people using it today, so if there's time, I should be able to carry out some mock battles, I finally secured a permission for training suit…"

"That's what we were planning to do from the beginning," Ichika said as Charlotte nodded. By the way, she decided to get rid of her disguise right after tournament's end. She said that people will splash out most of their emotions during tournament, and truth about her won't cause too emotional reaction. Ichika had to admit that there was some logic in her plan…

As three were heading towards the arena, they found a lot of tension over there, and there were a lot of students running around in the corridor. It seems like the commotion happened at the 3rd arena.

"What's wrong?" Houki wondered.

"What's going on? Should we check it out?" Charlotte asked as she pointed at the gate to the spectator stands. To learn about situation, it's much faster to go there than to go through the hangar, so Ichika nodded his head in agreement.

Going there, they overheard voices of two girls, which were running the same way, one of them said, "It seems like there're people having a mock battle, but the situation seems to be quite harsh!"

Few moments later, just as Houki, Charlotte and Ichika entered the stand and arena itself became visible, sudden explosion happened right above the middle of the field, and two shadows flew out of the smoke like they were cutting through it.

"Rin? Cecilia?" Ichika recognized the I.S. units, which were thrown away by explosion. Both pilots looked hurt as they gazed directly at the center of the explosion, and standing over there was Laura, who was piloting the pitched-black I.S. **Schwarzer Regen**. Looking closely, Rin and Cecilia's I.S. were severely damaged. There were damage marks all over the frames, and a part of the I.S. armor was completely broken. In contrast, Laura's unit wasn't completely unscathed, but the damage was relatively light compared to those two.

"What are these two doing?" Ichika asked with somehow disappointed voice. After looking at Rin and Cecilia, he turned to look at Laura. Though it was a 2 vs 1, the ones in trouble were Rin and Cecilia, who, logically, should have been in an advantageous situation.

"Take that!" Rin's I.S. **Shenlong** opened its shoulders. Docked on them were the Shock Cannons, which use shells made of compressed air, the maximum output weapons of the **Shenlong**. If it were a training machine, one shot would definitely wreck it, but Laura wasn't avoiding at all.

"That's useless against the absolute barrier of the Schwarzer Regen!" Laura stated as invisible shots of the impact cannons were aimed at Laura, but the attacks never landed on her. Ichika noticed what happened – shells made of air simply stopped at some distance from Laura, as if caught by invisible net. Laura only reached her right hand out, and the impact cannons attacks were completely nullified.

"Che! To think that you can hold me off like that..." Rin hissed in frustration.

Laura shot out blades from her shoulders at Rin's I.S. As both blades were linked to the main body by electronic cables, she was able to let them fly out in complicated paths to avoid the direct shots and thus grabbed Rin's right foot – they seemed to be weapons that were a mix between blades and cables.

"Do you think I'll let you do as you please so many times!?" Trying to cover Rin, Cecilia attacked and launched her BITs at Laura.

"Hah... I don't know if **Blue Tears** is said to have the highest mobility in theory, but treating that design as a 3rd generation unit? That's a joke," Laura replied with derisive voice.

Cecilia used accurate sniping and the BITs to launch attacks from all over the place, and Laura continued to dodge and then she stopped, extending her arm out like just before. This time, she seemed to grab something in front of her while she was folding her arms, and the moment she did that, all the BITs stopped.

"Your movements are sealed!" Cecilia shouted, pointing her rifle at Laura. Seemingly, Laura couldn't move with her force field in use.

"Yours too," Laura replied, charging her own shoulder-mounted railgun. Two girls shot at each other simultaneously, negating each other's shots. However, Laura wasn't wasting time as she threw Rin, who she caught just now with blades-cables, at Cecilia, who intended to continue firing. It was a theory of using cables to swing down in a clockwork manner, simple, yet effective.

"AH!" "UGH" Two girls screamed as they been smashed into one another. Facing the two of them while they lost their orientation in mid-air, Laura launched her attack. Her speed could be compared to a bullet as she closed in within a second. No doubts, that was the **Ignition Boost**.

"Good doggy, she learned well," Ichika commented, as he was watching the battle, carefully grasping every Laura's move with his eyes. At this point there should be no doubts that she was Chifuyu's trainee.

At that moment, Laura deployed the plasma blades from her sleeves and hacked at Rin with them. "Ah You...!" Rin growled.

While Laura was moving forward, Rin backed away and increased the distance, dodging a few blows in the process, skillfully using the shape of the arena to move and forcing herself not to get into any dead ends. However, Laura's cable blades attacked again, the two on her shoulders and the ones on both sides of her waist, 6 of them in total. They all attacked in 3 dimensions as she continued to use her plasma blades to attack viciously. Even if it was Rin, who was so used to fighting, it was too difficult for her to deal with all the attacks adequately.

"Heh!" Rin again deployed the impact cannons and gathered the power there.

"How naive! Using pressurized-air weapons that need time in this situation?" As Laura said this, her railgun destroyed the impact cannons before they could shoot. "Got you!" Both Rin's shock cannons was damaged and disappeared. As the armor on her back got shot off, Rin's body lost balance and Laura used this chance to stab the plasma blade into her chest.

"I won't let you!" At the last moment, Cecilia rushed in between Rin and Laura and blocked her attack with her own blade, **Interceptor**. Seemingly, her training with Ichika wasn't in vain. After blocking the sure-kill attack, she shot the missile type BITs on her waist at Laura.

That was almost the equivalent of a suicidal close-ranged rocket attack as the explosion caught Rin and Cecilia, causing them to tumble on the floor.

"That was reckless of you..." Rin mumbled.

"Save the complaints for later. But really, that should have done some damage…" Cecilia stopped as she spoke. As the smoke scattered, standing over there was Laura. Even though it was an explosion at close range, she was still floating in mid-air, just with few minor scratches.

"Is it over? Well then it's my turn," She smiled evilly. The moment she said that, she used the Ignition Boost to glide down to the ground, first kicking Rin and then shooting at Cecilia with a cannon. Then, Laura used the cabled blades to grab their bodies and drag them to her. After that, one-sided violence ensued.

Laura's fists clamped down hard on their arms, legs and bodies, causing their defenses to drop lower than what the machine maintenance warning zone permitted. But Laura didn't stop as she continued to beat and kick Rin and Cecilia, ripping their I.S. armor apart. If the damage kept up, their I.S. would be forcefully removed. After that, if Laura won't stop, she may simply kill them.

Seeing Laura's usual emotionless face actually smile for a moment due to delight, Ichika narrowed his eyes. Obviously, for Laura, these two girls weren't co-students, they were more like enemies, and she was treating them accordingly. _'I guess we're not that different, are we? No mercy for the wicked…'_ Ichika thought. "Still, if she kills them, that girl will be punished severely, maybe even incarcerated, and that will make teaching her a lesson quite troublesome… It seems I have to interfere…" Ichika was talking to himself.

White light engulfed his body, as Ichika quickly deployed his I.S., **Messiah** , and immediately drew out his weapon. **Ragnarök** quickly took shape of three-barreled shotgun, **Arbiter**. Ichika's I.S. began to glow, drawing light from surrounding area, as pilot activated One Off ability – **Paradise of Darkness**. Ichika shot right in front of himself. Triple plasma blast, empowered by **Paradise of Darkness** , which can destroy anything that uses energy, made quite a hole in the arena's protective shield, allowing Ichika to enter the battlefield. At the same time **Ragnarök** switched to sniper rifle form, **Ambassador** , as Ichika's I.S. extended the Fold Out armor on its wings downwards, activating 'weapon overload' mode, thus directing additional plasma into weapon's plasma compression chamber. As he entered the arena, Ichika shot without delay.

Due to Ichika's fast actions and plasma charge's very high velocity, Laura couldn't avoid that attack. She got a direct hit into her back, as powerful plasma blast made her and her I.S. to fly head over heels until she smashed into arena's opposite wall. Too bad that Ichika had to deactivate **Paradise of Darkness** , or that one shot probably would be enough to devastate Laura's shield completely, thus forcing **Schwarzer Regen** to activate absolute barrier and render it harmless. However, because Rin and Cecilia were too close to Laura, with **Paradise of Darkness** active, that blast that could defeat Laura also could simply fry both girls as their shields were almost depleted. Still, even without **Paradise of Darkness** , that empowered-mode shot from **Ambassador** burned down 360 points of Laura's shield and completely wrecked armor on her back.

Unfortunately, that blast still was powerful enough to also nullify both **Shenlong** and **Blue Tears** ' remaining shields points, and since both frames were severely damaged it caused force removal of both I.S., and now two girls were lying defenseless on arena's ground. "Charlotte," Ichika called for French pilot via private channel, "I'll take it from here, you take care of these two losers." Though, Ichika's words were needless as Charlotte already deployed her I.S. and entered arena, heading straight to Rin and Cecilia.

At the same time, Houki was helplessly watching at what was happening inside the arena. Yes, she also got permission to use I.S. for training today, but, unlike personal unit owners, she couldn't deploy it right away – she had to go to Hangar and equip it manually. It would take about 7-8 minutes at least – definitely she won't be able to help now. "Damn! If only I had a personal unit, too!" She exclaimed desperately, clenching her fists. "Is watching the only thing I can do now?!"

In the meantime, Laura came back to her senses. She got up, and now was looking at Ichika with all-devouring hatred. "Oh, nice face," Ichika commented, "Sorry to interfere but that was too tempting to wipe out that smile of yours… And don't blame me for attacking you in the back – as they say – _à la guerre comme à la guerre_ …" Too bad that Ichika was wearing closed helmet and no one could see his face. "Still, doggy, you actually fought not that bad, definitely better than Chihuahua level, so hereby I'm officially promoting you to Dalmatian…"

"SHUT UP!" Laura roared, seemingly Ichika infuriated her to the limit. She bent forward, preparing to execute Ignition Boost, at the same time shooting all six cable-blades at Ichika.

 **Ragnarök** quickly switched to dual pistols form, **Ebony** and **Ivory** , as Ichika's I.S. reversed the Fold Out armor on its wings, extending it upwards, directing plasma into thrusters instead of weapon. With his dual pistols, Ichika shot down five out of six cable-blades that Laura launched at him, and easily caught last one with his left hand. "Now, come to me!" He said. Using powerful thrusters of 4th generation I.S. to maintain his position, Ichika began to tow Laura along stadium, towards himself.

At that moment, Charlotte approached Cecilia and Rin.

"Ugh... damn..." Rin moaned.

"I let him... see me got embarrassed out there..." Cecilia mumbled.

"Don't talk..." Charlotte said before opening private channel to Ichika, "Ichika-san, they're still conscious but seemingly injured. Can you handle her by yourself? I'm taking them off arena, they need medical attention."

"Roger, do it," Ichika replied, as he continued to pull Laura towards himself. Charlotte carried Rin and Cecilia away through arena's gate.

 _'Damn… what the heck with this thing?!'_ Laura was very proud with her I.S., and seeing it to be so easily overwhelmed with raw power was quite shocking for her. She directed her railgun at Ichika and shot, but while her cannon was charging, **Ragnarök** switched into sword form, **Redeemer** , and Ichika sliced incoming shell in half, continuing to drag Laura to himself. **Ragnarök** changed its shape once again, now turning into five-barreled heavy plasma machinegun, **Equalizer**. Ichika was planning to test his plasma weapon against Laura's AIC [Active Inertia Canceller] – energy field, which was making Laura virtually invulnerable to most of Rin and Cecilia's attacks. However, just as Ichika was about to open fire…

*CLANG!* The sound of metal could be heard, and figure of someone appeared between Ichika and Laura. "...My my, it's because of little things like this that I grew tired of handling kids..." Chifuyu's voice said tiredly as she sliced Laura's cable that Ichika was using to pull her towards himself.

' _Of course, who else but my sister could be insane enough to jump between railgun and plasma machinegun?'_ And she was still wearing a normal suit. There were I.S. here, and she wasn't even wearing an I.S. suit. She was holding onto a I.S. sword easily, and that was a huge sword that was 67 inches in length, all without the use of an I.S. frame. No matter how to look at it, she's definitely not an ordinary human.

"It's fine to have mock battles, but, to the extent of destroying the barriers of the arena? As a teacher, I can't stand by that. You can finish this battle at the individual division tournament," Chifuyu stated and that sounded like an order.

"Since instructor says so..." Laura nodded in obedience and got rid of her I.S. Her armor scattered into particles of light and disappeared. No matter how much she was infuriated, she couldn't dare to disobey Chifuyu Orimura. When she removed her I.S., it was possible to see that backside of her I.S. suit was severely damaged…

"Orimura, is that fine with you too?" She looked at her brother.

"No objections," Ichika replied as his I.S. also scattered into particles of light and disappeared.

Hearing Ichika say that, Chifuyu again addressed everyone in the arena, including those on stands. "In that case, until the individual division tournament, all personal battles are forbidden. Everyone, dismissed!" Chifuyu forcefully clapped her hands, and it sounded as loud as a bullet being shot.

* * *

It's been an hour since what happened at the 3rd arena. Rin and Cecilia have completed their treatment, and now they were lying on beds, bandaged all over, and staring away in different directions.

 _'It would have been alright even if you hadn't saved us!'_

 _'We could have won if it had continued!'_

That was what they probably wanted to say, but, right now, they couldn't even dare to raise their heads and look into those dreaded heterochromic eyes, which were glowing in the rays of sunset. Trying to act tough right now would only make them look even more miserable.

"You two… Oh well, at least you two don't look injured too badly. Just rest a bit…" Ichika said, even he couldn't scold two girls in such a miserable condition, despite he had few things to say about their performance in battle against Laura.

"These injuries are nothing… OWW!" Rin wrenched in pain.

"It's really meaningless to lie down here… EEKKK!" Cecilia screamed.

Ichika just sighed deeply, and both girls again lowered their heads. It's understandable that their mood right now was below plinth. It was their third defeat in a row, that was publically acknowledged. Each of them lost their official matches against Ichika, then Maya Yamada used them as an example of bad pilots in front of two classes, and now Laura crushed them, while at least hundred students were present on arena's stand.

And that isn't a joke – if they continue like that, their respective governments may learn about their bad performance, and, in worst case, deprive them of representative candidate status, and took away their personal I.S. units. Unlike Charlotte, these two girls have many things to lose in their countries, so they probably won't dare to hide behind I.S. Academy rules.

"It must be quite embarrassing for you two to show such an awkward side to the person you like," Charlotte said. She bought the drinks and came back. Ichika heard her as well, but he pretended that he didn't, because Rin and Cecilia just blushed and started to rampage after hearing what she just spoke out.

"W-wha-what are you talking about!? I don't understand at all!" Rin screamed.

"I… I wasn't trying too hard! It's uncomfortable hearing when you're making guesses like that!" Cecilia shouted.

Both of them continued to get flustered as their faces turned extremely red... _'Oh Charlotte… you really have a long tongue…'_ Ichika thought.

"Here, Oolong tea and red tea. Drink something to calm down, okay?" Charlotte offered the drinks as if nothing happened.

"H-Humph!"

"I'll accept it reluctantly then!"

Rin and Cecilia seemed displeased, they snatched the drinks Charlotte served up and opened the bottles, gulping them down in one go.

"Well, sensei did say that you two should recover pretty quickly, you just need to rest for one or two days…" French girl (still disguised as boy) said with kind voice.

Anyway, back on topic, Ichika looked at Rin and Cecilia and asked what he initially wanted to ask, "So why did you two fought against Laura so zealously?"

"What, nothing, that's, well, because..." Rin suddenly stuttered.

"Eh, well, how should I explain this... because we females got our pride hurt," Cecilia replied reluctantly.

"Hmm?" For some reason, it looked like both of them just couldn't swallow it. Seemingly, one side started battle after a taunt, but as representative candidates of different countries, isn't it bad that they can be taunted that easily?

"Ah, don't tell me you started that fight because she badmouthed Ichika?" Charlotte again couldn't keep her mouth shut, as Ichika rolled his eyes.

"Ahh! You're being a loudmouth, Dunois!"

"Tha… That's right! Really! That's so right!"

Two girls grabbed her and quickly stopped her from saying anything else. Charlotte's mouth was cupped by those two as she struggles painfully.

"An… anyway, that's not over yet!" Rin suddenly announced.

"That's right! I will have my revenge at the tournament!" Cecilia agreed, as they were still holding Charlotte's mouth shut.

"No, you shouldn't," Yamada-sensei announced her sudden arrival with such words. Rin and Cecilia blinked, stunned by unexpected statement. "I've just confirmed the state of both your I.S. units. The damage level sustained by both of your frames have exceeded phase C. If you don't focus on recovering, there will be fatal problems later on. Take it as rest for your I.S., I won't allow any of you two to participate."

Can the two representative candidates with burning will accept this? Probably not, but...

"Ugh, ku...! I… I got it…" Rin lowered her head.

"I'm not willing... not, not at all! But I'll withdraw from the tournament..." Cecilia also agreed.

And that's it. Seemingly even in their current mental condition they can understand that there are things that simply shouldn't be done.

"Sensei's happy that you can accept it. If you use the I.S. past the limits, you have to pay the price. It'll be bad if you lose the chance at the opportune time, and sensei doesn't wish for you two to become like that…" For what reason Maya said that pretty senseless phrase – Ichika didn't understand.

"Yes..."

"I got it..."

Though both of them looked like they can't accept Yamada-sensei's serious lecture, at least they recognize that they can't participate in the tournament. "Ichika-san, what's the third point of gaining experience in I.S. basic theory?" Maya asked.

"The I.S. unit will evolve together with its pilot as they gather experience, especially during battles. However, if the I.S. is damaged past phase C, that can and will cause uneven, irregular experience gain, which will later cause many… inconvenient consequences," Ichika replied, looking into the window.

"Yeah, that's right," Maya said a bit uncertainly, "Though, that's not exactly how it is written in a book…"

"My knowledge about I.S. lies far beyond books," Ichika replied, still looking into the window. There was no arrogance in his voice – it was just the truth. "For instance, _Hetare Ichigō_ [Looser №1] got her unit's PIC projectors damaged…" He looked at Cecilia "…and _Hetare Nigō_ [Looser №2] unit's auxiliary power contour is no more," Ichika further explained the situation about Cecilia and Rin's frames. Though, fact that ichika somehow aware of exact condition of **Blue Tears** and **Shenlong** didn't cause any reaction, unlike his other words…"

"W-What?!" Cecilia's face became red once again.

"Hetare Nigō?!" Rin's ponytails swung around as she abruptly turned her head towards Ichika.

"Those are your nicknames until the end of the week," Ichika explained as if it was obvious, " _Hetare Ichigō_ , who can't keep herself at proper distance from her enemy, despite her unit possesses highest speed among all 3rd generation units in this academy; and _Hetare Nigō_ , who can't manually control her PIC to prevent herself from being tossed around like a ragdoll."

Now even Cecilia's ears were red, not just her face. Rin was staring at Ichika with her eyes wide open, unable to say anything. "Um… Ichika-san…" Charlotte mumbled uncertainly, thinking that Ichika went a bit too far.

"What is it? You want a nickname too, _Hetare Sangō_ [Looser №3]?" Ichika wondered?

"Ah… no… hahaha…" French girl laughed nervously, "I think I'll pass…"

"If you don't like your nicknames, just try to avoid me until designated time," Ichika shrugged. "Anyway, I have to go," He turned towards door, "Hetare Ichigō, Hetare Nigō, get better."

"Ichika-san!?" Cecilia screamed with cracking voice, as if she was on verge of tears.

"Stop calling me Hetare!" Rin cried angrily. But Ichika already left the room.

"Haha…" Charlotte laughed, "Ichika-san's really is a remarkable person." She was smiling for some reason.

"What's so funny?!" Cecilia snapped, she was already vexed more than enough by now.

"I understand that being on receiving and of such a treatment ain't that funny, but you shouldn't take everything that Ichika-san says to the letter," French girl explained.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Rin looked at Charlotte with narrowed eyes.

"Well, Ichika-san told you to avoid him until weekend, and best way to do so is staying here." So, she replied, still smiling, "So, virtually, he told you to stay put in medbay and get better quickly instead of wandering around."

"Oh?" "Um?" Both Rin and Cecilia now seemed confused, they didn't thought about Ichika's words that way.

"They really are alike…" Maya Yamada mumbled to herself, comparing Ichika to his elder sister, who also was quite reluctant about expressing her thoughts directly. Certaainly, Ichika wasn't that heartless to insult two wounded girls without any reason…

* * *

June 23th, 8:54 AM.

Saturday. About 9AM. This is the last weekend before IDT. Ichika returned to the city and came to his and Chifuyu's home, now he was in his room. He was looking through some files, seemingly that was quite sensitive information, so he was unwilling to use any computer inside I.S. academy, even his personal terminal in his dorm room. Actually, files were data logs about his own weapon usage. In addition, he acquired records of Thursday's battle from 3rd arena's cameras, and he was intending to analyze them, as he was interested to learn as much as possible about Laura's AIC.

"Ichika, are you there?" He heard the voice of his sister, though that question was unnecessary, of course she knew exactly that he's there. Without asking for permission, she entered his room.

 _'I'm wondering… for her students she's an idol, Brunhilde, invincible warrior, incarnate of power, and so on, and so forth… what will they think if they learn that she can't sleep if she isn't completely naked, and after she wakes up she not always can find her underwear…'_ Ichika thought _'…guess they'll be excited.'_ That thought came to him not by accident but because his sister now was braless, wearing panties only, thanks to his 360-degree field of vision, Ichika noticed it without even looking at Chifuyu directly. And, seemingly thanks to that Chifuyu was still sleepy, she didn't 'hear' his thoughts.

Without saying anything, Ichika pointed at his own bed (it wasn't used tonight, Ichika spent night in academy), black bra was lying there. By the way, it's needless to say that Chifuyu's exposed breasts were perfect, like the rest of her body. Curves were ideal, size just as it should be. Even Ichika, who already got used to it long ago, couldn't avoid making a note about his sister's beauty. "And I'm not going to ask what it's doing there," He added with slight smile as Chifuyu saw what she was looking for.

"Hmpft," Chifuyu snorted as she retrieved upper piece of her underwear and begun to put it on herself. But don't get it wrong – she wasn't doing any perverted things in her brother's room, she was just an inveterate slattern. "Why are you here, by the way," She asked.

"Here's quite sensitive data," Ichika replied, nodding towards display, "While I have a roommate, I can't work with it in academy."

"It's just paranoia," Chifuyu shook her head. "Anyway, she will be leaving your room soon enough," Elder sister informed.

"Oh," Ichika said, "It's finally 'she'? So Charlotte finally talked to you…"

"Yes," Chifuyu replied with displeasure… "Dealing with kids is stressful enough, but dealing with elders, who behave like a kids…" She probably was referring to Charlotte's father.

"True enough," Ichika agreed. "By the way, that German girl you were training, she still didn't ask for medical attention?" No doubts that Chifuyu also noticed that yesterday, during classes, Laura had troubles keeping her back straight, despite she tried her best to look as if everything was just fine. Seemingly, those were the consequences from that empowered-mode shot from sniper rifle when Ichika intervened into Laura's battle against Rin and Cecilia. That shot not only wrecked backside armor of Laura's I.S. and burned her suit, it also damaged girl's back as well. As it was said many times – I.S. shield isn't perfect, as a proof, Rin and Cecilia had to spent rest of the Thursday and entire Friday in sickbay.

"No idea," Chifuyu replied, looking around, as if trying to find something.

Ichika sighed. "Onee-san, your stockings are on sofa in living room," He said as he understood what she was looking for this time.

"Oh, thanks," Chifuyu said and left Ichika's room.

* * *

June 25th, 8:42 AM

It's now the last decade of June. I.S. Academy had already gotten into the individual division tournament mode, and the panic far exceeded what was expected. It was about time for the 1st round, and all the students were still settling the admin matters, clearing the arenas and guiding the guests in.

The students who finally gained their freedom frantically headed into the changing rooms in each block, and the boys' changing room was still as large as others, and still occupied by 2 people, despite one of them actually was a girl. It's really generous for academy's administration to give entire changing room to Ichika and Charlotte, but the other changing room has to accommodate twice the capacity of the room, so the situation's rather serious.

"But this is what you could expect..." Charlotte said as she looked at the state of things from the changing room's television screen. Government officials from all over the world, researchers, enterprise representatives and other people were all gathered here. "There will be people scouting the third years and others checking the progress of the second years after their training. Though the first years shouldn't be affected, I guess they will be noticed if they get the top few positions in the tournament."

"Then you should try your best, aren't you?" Ichika asked, also looking at screen.

She chuckled, "Don't worry, I'm really looking forward to it, I'd like to meet you again, in official match, Ichika-san. It will be different from the last time!" That probably was truth, maybe she won't be able to win anyway, but at least she was planning to hold on longer, at least five minutes. This time she knows that she's against 4th generation I.S. and its very skilled pilot. "Though, I guess that you mostly want to fight against Bodewig, right?"

"Well, that's right. It was personal for her from the very beginning, and… well, I won't say that it became personal for me as well, but I want her to learn her place, and, most importantly, I want her to leave my elder sister alone…" Ichika replied.

As it was said, Rin and Cecilia couldn't take part in the tournament, they had to forfeit. It would have been alright if they were ordinary students, but they're representative candidates of their countries, and have their own personal machines. Yet they can't even participate in the tournament, let alone getting a good result. This would drastically affect their circumstances, just as Ichika thought.

"It must be hard for them to be unable to test themselves," Charlotte also remembered about two girls beaten by Laura. However, 'avenging' them was not among Ichika's motives to fight against German pilot.

"Alright, I'm ready." Ichika said as he finished changing into his I.S. suit.

"Same here," Charlotte replied as she seemed like she was checking her male I.S. suit (at least the outline was made like it).

"The schedule should be out now," Ichika looked at screen. Actually, schedule had to be announced yesterday, but due to some system malfunction it was only finished an hour ago.

"Those in the first round who got into first few groups are really lucky," Charlotte noted.

"Hmm? Why is that?" Ichika wondered.

"Because we won't be standing around thinking. This momentum is important. Problems can be settled once they come, it's better to enter the finals decisively," She replied. Ichika just shrugged, he couldn't say that it is really important for him – he had no doubts about his victory anyway.

"Ah, it seems like we have our opponents," Ichika switched the screen to the schedule, looking intently at the words on the screen. "Oh, looks like you're lucky," He said as he looked at Charlotte with some maniacal smile, which made her to take a step back.

Indeed, first pair of opponents were two girls from class 1-2 and 1-3, second pair – girl from Ichika's class against girl from class 1-4, and next battle will be Charlotte's, and her opponent will be no one else but Houki. But, more importantly, fourth battle will be Ichika against Laura, which means that if Charlotte defeat Houki, she's going to fight a winner of Ichika/Laura match!

* * *

Located in the opposite corner of the arena, there was another air-conditioned changing room that was overcrowded. Two certain girls were present there. One of them was Laura Bodewig, and the other was Houki Shinonono. Both of them were giving off a weird presence, seemingly covering all the heat that was generated.

But if Laura was just sinking in her own bloodlust, Houki's thoughts were completely different. Though she closed her eyes, her heart was still wavering.

 _'This is bad, this is the worst-case scenario…'_ Just what Houki was afraid of – she's going to fight the representative candidate with personal I.S. And she was well aware of that, despite that boy, Charles (she still thought so), suffered crashing defeat at Ichika's hands, that wasn't because he's a bad pilot, not at all. Charles was just caught by surprise, in a manner of speaking.

When yesterday Houki learned about that Rin and Cecilia are not going to participate in tournament, she felt a great relief. Yes, she felt herself ashamed a bit because of such thoughts, but she just couldn't help it as her chances to actually get to finals rose up. Besides, according to rumors, girl from class 1-4, representative candidate for Japan, Sarashiki Kanzashi, is not going to use her personal I.S. for some reason. If these rumors are actually accurate, that means that, among 1st grade students, will be only three people with personal I.S. units – Ichika, Laura and Charles. 3 out of 120, her chances to meet one of them in first round was 1:40! And yet…

 _'Am I cursed?!'_ Houki thought angrily. But that was even worse, she's not only going to fight representative candidate with personal I.S. in first round. Even if she'll miraculously win, her next opponent will be the winner of Ichika/Laura battle! 99% it will be Ichika, and then tournament for her will be over. But Ichika promised to go out with her if they'll meet in _final_ , but second round…

While Houki was thinking, she didn't even notice that first pair of combatants finished their match, and now second match has started. Her match against Charles will be next one, she was already called to hangar. _'Oh, come that may,'_ She thought, _'I just have to fight with everything I got!'_

* * *

"Okay, it's my turn," Charlotte said as she was called to hangar. "Wish me luck," She smiled to Ichika a bit sadly, French girl was sure that Ichika is going to cheer for his childhood friend. If only she knew one certain thing…

"Good luck," Ichika waved to her as Charlotte left the changing room, leaving Ichika alone. As soon as Charlotte left, Ichika took out his phone and called for someone.

"Hi! Hi!" Energetic female voice replied to his call.

"Everything's going as planned," Ichika said, "In best case, you'll receive a call tonight…"

"I hope so!" Tabane replied, "It's already became dusty… oh my, from where that dust is coming from!?" As they continued to speak, things were becoming more and more clear.

Malfunction in academy's system, which caused delay in tournament net's announcement, was due to external interference, someone hacked the system. Tournament net, that was formed, was actually a setup. Tabane modified the tournament net, making Charlotte to be Houki's first opponent. That was the final part of Ichika's 'merciless' plan to break Houki's heart, and finally force her to ask elder sister for personal I.S. Everything, starting from his promise of weekend-long date, was leading to that moment (though, he didn't tell Tabane about that promise). Initially, plan was to make Houki fight Rin, but since latter fell out from the tournament, Charlotte fit just fine. Ichika was pretty sure that French girl will win, thus delivering the final proof that it's not possible to win against personal unit with only training suit.

Elder sister and childhood friend, plotting such a thing… from aside it definitely looks nasty. But Tabane wanted her sister to have personal I.S. (for not completely clear reason). Though, even more unclear were Ichika's reasons to help Tabane. Even if they're friends – being dragged into other family's affairs usually was at the very end of Ichika's 'wish-to-do' list. Yet he agreed to help, and even devised a plan how to do it. No doubts – he also has some plans for Houki or her I.S… or for both.

…

"I'm sorry, Shinonono-san, but I really have to fight Ichika one more time, so I'm not holding back!" Charlotte announced with somehow bloodthirsty smile as she and Houki stood against one another on the arena. "For you, tournament ends here!"

"What?! Don't you dare to look down on me!" Charlotte's taunt certainly made Houki's blood boil. She was using **Uchigane** -type, close combat, defensive frame.

There're only 5 seconds till the start of the battle. Four! Three! Two! One! Start!

Houki immediately charged at Charlotte with sword, in the end her swordswoman's skills were polished during almost ten years of kendo training. However, her opponent was well aware of that, so she was prepared to counter.

*KLANG!* Charlotte used the close-ranged knife **Bread Slicer** to block Houki's sword, and then, while maintaining the position, she quickly equipped .62 caliber auto shotgun **Rain of Saturdays** into her left hand and aimed it at Houki. This was where Houki made a mistake. **Uchigane** was a defensive-type frame, and it was equipped with physical shield. But as a conscientious kendo trainee, Houki was holding sword with both hands. And as she was holding sword for a high swing, she just had no time to use her left hand to raise that shield, and it was impossible to dodge the shot at this short range. It was too late for Houki as she went pale, and Charlotte squeezed the trigger.

* * *

The impression that Charlotte gave was that she's really strong at shooting, but actually, the biggest advancement of her tactic was 'flexibility'. With her unique **rapid switch** skill, once the opponent feels that she wants to fight it out with melee style, she can suddenly switch into a guns, like .61 caliber sub machine guns **Garm** , to shoot, and once the distance is pulled apart, she can close in to close combat range again. As far as Ichika could remember, this tactic is called the 'Desert Mirage'. She can maintain a certain distance and attack in motion whether the opponent's near or far away, and her attacks and defenses are great. In other words, she was a pilot with quite balanced set of skills.

* * *

Ichika couldn't continue to watch over Houki's battle against Charlotte, as he was summoned to hangar for preparation before his battle, but according to what he was seeing just now, French pilot was going to win easily.

When Ichika reached the hangar and could look at screen there, battle was already over, in overall it lasted about 6 minutes. At the side of the arena he saw a very unhappy looking Houki, who was in a moderately damaged I.S. with 0 shields and kneeling on one leg. According to final results screen, Charlotte only lost 112 shield points, so it was an overwhelming victory.

Honestly, that was only natural, in the end Charlotte was a test pilot for two years, maybe unofficial, but still… Houki, on the other hands, had less than three months of experience with real I.S. In fact, she did even better than Ichika expected – she lasted for more than 5 minutes and scratched Charlotte for those 112 shield points… Seems that those several training sessions with Ichika weren't for nothing.

Hangar's gates opened and Charlotte flew in. "Congratulations," Ichika said (without using comm channel) as she approached.

"Thanks," She smiled, "I'm looking forward to our fight after tomorrow."

Yeah, they won't be fighting tomorrow, and there's the thing. All participants from each grade were divided into four blocks – A, B, C and D. First day was the most packed with action, as first round's battles for all 1st and 2nd grade students should be completed today. Battles were carrying out at four arenas simultaneously, one arena per block (5th arena was in reserve for finals).

But even so, that means that today up to 32 battles will happen at each arena (16 for 1st grade and 16 for 2nd). Because of that, time for each battle was strictly limited to 15 minutes, with only 5 minutes break between matches (even like that it will be more than _ten hours_ of continuous battles). Second day will be completely devoted to 3rd grade (since they're the most interesting for scouts and officials, time limit for their battles was extended to 25 minutes). And third day will be the day for second rounds for all grades (with same time limits though – 15 minutes for 1st and 2nd grades, and 25 for 3rd). For further days, time limits will be extended.

It was good thing that, unlike three other 1st grade blocks, block A was complete (it has 32 participants). Since other three were incomplete, there were two girls per block who will skip the first round (only 30 participants per each, because there are only 124 first grade students, plus Rin and Cecilia fell out, making it 122). Because of that, tournament net in other three blocks was a bit messed. On the other hand, other blocks had no personal I.S. owners, so they are also much more fair.

In any case, thinking about all that was a bit inappropriate right now, as gates to arena opened again and it was time for Ichika to go out. No doubts, among all 1st grade matches today (maybe even among all today's matches) this one was the most anticipated. Not only it was the battle between two personal I.S. units, most importantly – it was battle with Orimura Ichika involved, the rumored world's only male I.S. pilot.

* * *

Right now, Ichika and Laura were standing on arena's ground, facing each other, there were about 70 yards between them. Despite all her hatred towards Ichika, during their little clash few days ago, Laura understood that fighting him won't be a simple task, so she decided to do the homework.

Because of her demeanor, she couldn't just ask other girls about Ichika's I.S. and weapon, but regardless, she learned a few things. Now she knew that **Messiah** is a 4th generation frame. And, despite the fact that sword, which Ichika now was holding in his left arm, was **Messiah** 's only weapon, it's capable of shape-shift, so in reality he possesses an entire arsenal of highly advanced, diversified plasma weapons.

One of **Schwarzer Regen** 's advantages was its pretty thick shield – 700 points. However, Laura remembered that with one shot from his sniper rifle Ichika burned 360 of her shield points (and her back was still a bit hurt, by the way). _'Two direct hits from that damn thing and I'm done for…'_ Laura thought darkly. She didn't know that that shot was made in weapon overload mode, which grants 160% of weapon's normal damage output, but this mode only available when plasma generators on **Messiah** 's wings are switched to assault mode, which means that all additional plasma is directed into weapon's plasma compression chamber, thus making wings-mounted plasma thrusters inactive. If Ichika needs full thrusters power, speed and maneuverability of 4th generation unit, he has to switch plasma generators into propulsion mode, but weapon will work at its basic capacity.

One minute until match's start. In any case, despite Laura's learned quite little about Ichika and his I.S., she was still confident in her victory. "Sure saves a lot of time, meeting in the first round," She said with unmasked bloodlust in her voice. And, though she didn't hope for it, she heard Ichika's response.

"Doggy, I'll reveal one huge secret to you," He said. "That incident, which happened during second Mondo Grosso, that wasn't just biggest, that was only failure in my entire life. Both me and my sister suffered the consequences, hard to say who among us two suffered more, but that was entirely my fault, no reason to argue with that. I'm not going to mention that if that incident wouldn't have happened, Chifuyu would have never became your instructor in the first place, because if you don't understand that you're simply an imbecile. If she'd won Mondo Grosso, she'd took the cup, reward, and returned back home with me."

"Ugh…" As she heard that, Laura betrayed her feelings, as she was slightly shocked. She actually never thought about that – no one ever told her why exactly Chifuyu Orimura became her instructor in the first place. Could it be that she actually was paying some kind of debt?

But that wasn't all what Ichika wanted to say, he wanted to shatter Laura's mental attitude completely. "I'm not here to explain some obvious things to you, like fact that everything that happened back than in Germany concerns only me and my sister, I just want to warn you that the likes of you have nothing to do with it, and if you dare to mention it ever again you'll pay dearly for it. Right now, however, it doesn't matter, I'm here just to show you the difference in our social standings. I am absolute, your defeat is inevitable. Lower your head…" As he said that Ichika closed the channel, as time for talk was over.

There were only 5 seconds till the start of the battle. Rin and Cecilia were on stand, waiting for battle to begin. Houki also joined them, but not Charlotte, seemingly she decided to wait for Ichika in hangar. Four! Three! Two! One! Start!

Fold Out armor on **Messiah** 's wings extended upwards, switching plasma generators to propulsion mode, activating plasma thrusters. Then Ichika immediately dashed backward, as **Ragnarök** quickly switched to dual heavy pistols form, **Ebony** and **Ivory**. Just as Ichika expected, Laura started battle, trying to quickly close in with _Ignition Boost_ , at the same time launching all six cable blades in attempt to bound Ichika. However, Ichika easily shot down all six blades, and managed to keep his distance from Laura.

From the very beginning, Laura was planning to engage Ichika in short-to-middle ranged combat, her goal was to bind him with cables and then find the moment to utilize her AIC to completely immobilize him. However, everything went wrong even before battle started. She made her first mistake when contacted Ichika via private comm channel. With first part of his speech in reply he confused her, and with second part – enraged her. Due to that Laura lost significant part of her concentration, because of that, moves of her cable blades became easier to predict, and timings for her own moves worsened.

Seeing an opening, Ichika, without changing weapon's shape, opened fire at Laura from both pistols. And, as he expected, Laura immediacy stopped and extended her right arm forward, deploying AIC field. And all plasma charges were caught by Laura's field.

"Ha! Useless!" Laura shouted. She wasn't trying to mock Ichika with that shout, she needed to say that, trying to regain her momentum, ruined by Ichika's speech.

Ichika, on the other hand, showed no reaction as he saw that his attacks were blocked, actually he was expecting it. In the end, plasma charges that Ichika was using, actually were lead cells, melted, evaporated and overheated to state of thermal plasma (about 7000 kelvins in normal mode, about 18 000 kelvins with **Paradise of Darkness** active) and compressed into very dense sphere-like projectiles. As such, these plasma charges have mass, and AIC will stop everything that has mass. In other words, at first sight, AIC seemed to be effective against Ichika's weapon.

However, there were two problems – first, since plasma charges actually just a highly compressed, overheated gas, sustaining them as they are draining large amount of energy from AIC field generator. And second problem – AIC wasn't designed to sustain energy levels of projectiles that was caught into it. Charges of fully ionized thermal plasma, caught by Laura's force field, began to cool down rapidly, thus releasing vast amounts of energy into surrounding space. In other words, plasma charges began to disintegrate, creating blastwaves.

One after another, all plasma charges, caught by Laura's AIC, began to explode, disrupting her AIC and even damaging her shield. Though, damage was quite little, as plasma charges shot by pistols possess relatively low energy capacity. But that was only a mere test, Ichika just was looking for a breach in Laura's 'absolute defense' aka AIC, and he found it, and Laura also understood that.

"Now, let's begin," Ichika said as **Ragnarök** turned into five-barreled heavy machinegun, **Equalizer** , and Ichika immediately opened fire, at the same time maintaining certain (middle) distance from Laura.

Being caught into hail of plasma shells, executing unthinkable maneuvers to avoid being just obliterated, Laura suddenly felt herself cornered. With her main armament, AIC, being almost ineffective, she was left with little options. Ichika already proved that he can easily handle her cable-blades, despite Laura couldn't understand how he's predicting their trajectories so easily. Her own plasma blades for close combat… not an option, Ichika won't let her to get too close. And her only long-range weapon – shoulder-mounted railgun… she tried it several times but her shots either were intercepted by countershots from Ichika's weapon, or it was just glancing hits that didn't do much damage, while Laura's own shield points were steadily decreasing, that was simply not possible to dodge all that plasma hell around her.

* * *

"Wow! That's amazing!" Inside the observation room that could only be accessed by teachers, Maya was watching the battle footage as she marveled at Ichika and muttered. "Orimura-san's really amazing. He sure is talented!"

"Humph," Chifuyu snorted, "Especially he's talented with his tongue…" Maya looked at Chifuyu questioningly, so she explained, "I'm sure he told her something before match started, I have no idea what, but Bodewig surely lost her concentration. He knows how to hit sore spots…" Chifuyu made this conclusion looking at Laura's moves.

Seeing Chifuyu criticize her own family member like that, Maya could only smile awkwardly. "But still, his combat skill nevertheless is great!"

"Well... I guess you're right…" Though Chifuyu frowned as she answered, recently, Maya started to realize that the action was meant to hide her embarrassment, so she didn't really mind. Thinking about it, perhaps this was a 'show of protectiveness of her own little brother'.

"By the way, I've heard that academy administration was thinking about changing the format of the individual division tournament to 2vs2 team fights, because of the 'Incident' last month, right?" Maya wondered. "Though, that idea was declined after all…"

The incident that happened last month – when the unmanned machine, 'Golem', attacked. Most of them felt that it was a terrorist plot. As attacking I.S. Academy was a serious problem, and since they found out that it was an unmanned suit, the situation got even more critical. Right now, many countries were all suspecting whether they should start to doubt each other.

"I haven't heard about the specifics, but that's most likely the case. That unmanned I.S. caused quite a stir. They thought about adopting a tag team system to let the students gain more battle experience," Chifuyu explained.

"But the 1st years enrolled just 3 months ago, right? Besides, it's not that a war really happened. I guess there shouldn't be any need for mock battle trainings..."Maya said. She was correct, and Chifuyu knew that she would ask this question, which is why her expression didn't change.

"Seemingly, administration agreed with that point of view in the end. However, now that we have many freshmen who have their own 3rd generation frames, and when they're facing a mysterious enemy who suddenly appeared, what should they be worrying about?" Chifuyu asked.

"Ah, I got it! You think that team training will help them to defend themselves better?" Maya wondered.

"That's right. Forget about the pilots, we still need to protect the 3rd generation I.S. that were issued. However, we have a limited number of teachers, so the principle is to let them defend themselves, which is why there's a need for practical mock battles," Chifuyu spoke out her mind. Seemingly she was among those who thought that 2vs2 tag team battle was better idea than leaving tournament as it is – normal 1vs1 matches.

"Oh, I see!" Maya's questions melted away like ice.

That wasn't a coincidence that 3th generation units recently began to arrive into academy all together. Basically, I.S. technology must be revealed, but if newly developed technology would be revealed immediately, the other countries could easily use it, so this wouldn't be beneficial to developers. Besides, If the I.S. pilot is unable to familiarize herself with the important parts of the technology, the developing country would be lead to ruin.

And this is the aim of I.S. Academy. Hidden amongst the missions of I.S. Academy when it was first developed was the element 'All the laws don't work here'. Of course, it wasn't that all laws were ineffective against I.S. Academy; the main point was the 'Testing the prototype I.S. Technology'.

This place allows new technology to be tested out, and they can decide on whether they want to reveal their data here. They have no _need_ to reveal it. In other words, I.S. Academy was the only place in the world where 'They don't have to declare the data of their mock battles'. That is why China, England, Germany and other countries were sending their 3rd generation I.S. here.

Also, their real aim was to get the One Off ability and fuse with it. As long as their I.S. could switch into second phase within three years to create a one and only unique ability, they would have no problems with revealing their technology. That was because a 'one and only unique ability' definitely couldn't be imitated… or so it was, until recently, since Tabane somehow managed to imitate **Chifuyu and Kurozakura** 's _One Off ability_ – **Reiraku Byakuya** – and install it into Ichika's I.S. original frame, **Byakushiki** , deliberately. Though, that ain't counts, because, aside from Tabane, only Ichika knows how she did this (since he successfully replaced **Reiraku Byakuya** with similar ability). For instance, when Kuromochi Machinery Development tried to make One Off ability accessible after first shift – they failed miserably.

Of course, the chances of achieving the _second shift_ are very small, but with 3 years of piloting experience, the data gained will become a huge advantage. It's because of this the I.S. Academy students already got the latest models even though they were just representative candidates. The ones chosen to pilot these frames are definitely elites, but there aren't just one. To put it radically, anyone who fulfills the criteria can do. Thus, at the candidate state, there wasn't really a large difference.

"I really feel bad for Shinonono-san," Maya said, "She was really trashed thoroughly."

"That's what happens when you don't have a personal machine, however, in terms of character, Shinonono also at a disadvantage to Dunois, "Chifuyu commented as she turned to look at the screen. On the screen, it showed Laura still fighting against her opponent despite her disadvantageous situation.

"Bodewig-san, she still didn't give up…" Maya said.

"Humph..." While Maya was really amazed, Chifuyu snorted, seemingly bored. _'She's at technological disadvantage, and her opponent can see future… besides, she revealed all her tricks to him during that mock battle few days ago.'_ She definitely couldn't say these words aloud. If she says it, Maya may start saying something again.

"Oh my, arena now looks like a warzone!" Maya exclaimed. Indeed, whole field was cowered with shell-holes, smoke and fire, Ichika's new weapon, **Equalizer** , really possessed devastating power.

"It's always easy to make a mess if you aren't the one to clear all that," Chifuyu snorted (is she really one to talk?). "And have no doubts – he stockpiled enough ammunition to fight a war, not to mention mere match…"

"Here we go again. Even if you act like you care about arena more than about match's results, that attitude's…" Maya tried to say.

"Yamada-sensei, we haven't done any martial arts sparring for a long time. Now's a rare chance, so how about 10 rounds?" Chifuyu interrupted her, looking at Maya with much-colder-than-ice eyes, just like her brother's, once again clearing any doubts that they're blood siblings.

"No, no thanks! I... ahem... have to watch the students' machines!" Yamada frantically shook her head and waved her hands.

Chifuyu used a deep voice to declare: "I hate people who come up with nonsense to make fun of me the most. Do you remember that incident?"

"Ye-Yes... I'm sorry..." Maya, who was retreating and curling back, looked really pitiful, and because of that, Chifuyu patted her head gently.

"Alright, continue to watch the match. It's almost come to conclusion…" She said, seemingly without complete understanding that she's doing exactly what she prohibit others to do – she's treating Maya Yamada as a kid right now.

"Ye-Yes!" Maya exclaimed, though she didn't understand why Chifuyu was thinking that match is coming to conclusion.

* * *

 _'It's just impossible!'_ Laura thought, _'It's just as if I'm fighting against instructor herself!'_ Constantly being under intensive fire, knowing that direct hit would be fatal, Laura had to put all her skills into evasive maneuvers. Thanks to that her I.S. was newer and, thus, faster than Charlotte's, she could better dodge Ichika's attacks, but that required her to keep highest possible concentration. And no human can stay so concentrated for long. Laura executed another maneuver to avoid collision with arena's barrier… and that was a mistake Ichika was waiting for. Executing her maneuver, Laura overturned in midair, and at that moment Ichika executed Ignition Boost, as **Ragnarök** turned into sword form, **Redeemer**.

Laura was right in the middle of maneuver, her I.S. was in almost horizontal position, facing arena's 'ceiling'. And at that moment, Ichika appeared right above her, and plunged his sword into her solar plexus. "Augh!" Laura screamed as she felt sharp pain, and for mere second she blacked out. Of course, her I.S. quickly returned her senses in order, but that second, while she was almost unconscious, was more than enough for Ichika.

He made a back flip, grabbing Laura's arms from behind, to prevent her from any attempts to deploy AIC. Then he turned over, also forcing Laura's I.S. to overturn, so now she was facing down. Then Ichika flew down, using full thrusters output of his unit. With her movements restrained, Laura couldn't break free, so in the next moment she was smashed into arena's ground face down. Of course, she still had shield that wasn't depleted, but that was still painful. But not as painful as what followed.

Laura was lying on the ground face down, Ichika was sitting on her back, using his right hand to press her to the ground, and holding his sword with his left. "So, what happened to that confidence you had few minutes ago?" He asked as he plunged his blade into her left elbow joint.

"Augh!" She screamed, again – shield isn't perfect, that was very painful.

"Weren't you going to defeat me?" – Blow into right elbow joint.

"Ough!"

"Weren't you going to strike me down?" – Blow into left shoulder joint.

"Yaugh!"

"Weren't you going to dispose of me?" – Blow into right shoulder joint.

"Uagh!"

"Didn't you want to wipe me out from existence?" – Ichika plunged his blade into her waist. This time she didn't even screamed.

"Then you have to do better than that!" Ichika leaned back and plunged his sword into Laura's right knee joint. Laura only jolted but she was screaming no longer. "Then you have to point all your weapons and all your hatred at me!" Now her left knee joint was a target for sword attack, "Or you will be the one who will die today!"

On arena's stand, there were a lot of worried spectators.

"Ichika! Stop it!" Rin shouted. Few seconds before that she was excited. But now she was scared, helplessly watching at what was happening on arena.

"Ichika-san! You'll mutilate her!" Cecilia also was very worried.

"Ichika! Don't do this!" Houki also couldn't remain calm watching that. Of course Ichika couldn't hear neither of three girls.

Laura was lying on the ground face down, unmoving. "So, is that all?" Ichika asked as his weapon turned into shotgun, **Arbiter**. "So boring… very well. If you can't fight anymore, then I'm no longer interested in you. Lower your head…" Ichika aimed his shotgun into back of Laura's neck. With less than 150 shield points remaining, that shot probably not only nullify it, there is a good chance that Laura's spine will be damaged before her I.S. will apply absolute defense, and she will be crippled permanently… that still may be curable, but her I.S. pilot career will end now.

In teacher's room, Yamada-sensei was shocked. "Orimura-san! Don't! You'll kill her!" Maya screamed desperately.

"He won't hear you," Chifuyu said as she came to control panel and pushed big yellow button, "It's time to intervene." Buzzer sounded, and then everyone heard Chifuyu's voice. "Match concluded. Victor – Ichika Orimura. Participants – power down your weapons!"

"Ah, that's too bad…" Ichika said with false resentment. "Oh well, I hope you've learned your lesson…" As he said that, Ichika released Laura and stood up, his weapon dissipated into light particles. And yes, he knew that his elder sister will interfere, he wanted her to interfere, and thus, deliver the last portion of humiliation for this annoying and useless girl.

* * *

 _'To think that I... I actually lost here, me...'_ Laura thought, lying on the ground. She could no longer feel pain, that was some sort of a pain shock. She heard the buzzer and Chifuyu's voice, that proclaimed Ichika as victor. _'It's true that I underestimated that opponent's power, and that was a mistake on my part. But even so… How could it be!?'_

 _'Laura Bodewig. This is my name. A code to identify myself. My earliest codename was Gene Perfection Experiment C-0037. I was created through artificial human means, born out of a metal womb. It was dark. I was in darkness. I was created, born, bred and trained to fight. That was my only purpose.'_

 _'I only know how to attack humans. I only understand tactics on how to defeat the enemy. I learnt to fight, use guns and remember how to use weapons. I was outstanding, and in terms of capabilities, I always had the best records. But at that time, as the strongest weapon, the I.S. appeared, and my world suddenly changed._ _The operation to implant the **Odin's Eye** into me in order to improve my I.S.-related abilities caused a drastic change.'_

The actual term of **Odin's Eye** should be a hyper-sensor package, and what it does is that it can heighten nerve processing speed and enhance brain's capabilities. The aim is to react quickly in a hi-speed combat. The operation was supposed to transplant the nanomachines into patient's eyes, and those eyes that went through this operation are called the 'Eyes that Surpasses the World'.

 _'There were no risks with the operation, and logically, there wouldn't be a rejection – logically. However, this operation caused my left eye to turn gold, and I couldn't control it. It couldn't shut down on its own, it was always activated. This 'Accident' caused me to deteriorate amongst my peers in I.S. training.'_

 _'I don't know when I fell from the top position. What awaited me were the mockeries and humiliations of my peers, and the mark of 'Trash'. My world changed – I went from infinite darkness to even more darkness. And the first time I met the light, it was when I met the instructor – Orimura Chifuyu.'_

"Though you look like your grades are bad, there's nothing much to worry. In a month from now, you should be able to get back to being the strongest in your squad. You're going to be trained by me after all," Was the first thing Chifuyu said.

 _'Those words weren't a lie. Though I just obeyed that person's training honestly, I managed to get back to the top after I started learning I.S. However, I couldn't stay in the same situation. I didn't care about my peers who drifted away from me. I continued to admire that person greatly.'_

 _'Strong, courageous, indomitable. Seeing her like that made me anxious. Ah, I really want to be like this, I really want to be like her. With these emotions, I talked to her when I had the time before she went back to her own country.'_

 _'No, it's alright even if we don't say anything. As long as I could stay with her and stare at her figure, I can feel strength coming out from within. It's something like feeling of a 'Courage'. Maybe that's because she had such power.'_

One day, Laura tried to ask, "How did you become this strong? What must I do to become this strong?"

 _'At that time – ah, it's at that time... that person, that instructor who was as strict as the devil showed a gentle smile. For some reason, it felt like my heart got punctured through by a needle.'_

"I have a little brother," She replied.

"A little brother...?" Laura asked again.

"Once you see him, you'll understand, what's strength, and what's more than strength," Chifuyu was still smiling.

"...I don't understand," Laura really couldn't understand.

Chifuyu looked somewhere aside, "It's good that you remain like that. Ah, if you have a chance to come to Japan one day, maybe you can meet him... but let me give you a warning. That person…"

 _'A gentle smile, a fearful expression. That's… That's not right. That wasn't what I envisioned you – strong, courageous, indomitable, that's you. So – I won't forgive the person who made instructor show this expression. I can't agree with the existence of this little brother who made instructor like this.'_

 _So… I must defeat him! Use my own power to beat that guy, that bustard… into dust! That's why, I can't give up now! That guy, that bastard's... he's not just crushed me, he humiliated me! I was saved… by instructor! I won't let him go away with that! I WANT POWER!'_

 _'Ku...'_ something rumbled deep inside Laura's consciousness. Then, it spoke.

"Do you wish for it...? Do you wish for a change within yourself...? Do you want a stronger power...?" Some deep voice asked.

 _'Of course. If I have power, if I can get it – I'll even pay for it with this hollow existence!'_ Was Laura's reply. _'So give it to me... give me the invincible, strongest, absolute power!'_

Damage Level… 'D' – Matched.

Mind Condition... Uplift – Matched.

Certification... Clear – Matched.

All conditions fulfilled.

 **Valkyrie Trace System**... Activate!

* * *

Okay, I'm not a big fan of cliffhangers, but let's stop here. See you soon in the next chapter!


	6. Anguish and Despair

Hello again people! Here I am with sixth chapter.

But first, some talk with those who wrote a **review**.

 **FateBurn, Imperial-samaB, DarkBladerZX, LabMember009Isaac, Telron, New Universe Returns, Guest, I muffin derpy, Toolazytologin:** Many thanks people, here's an update, with the same cunning, sometimes brutal and unpredictable Ichika.

 **:** Well, Chifuyu meant exactly what she said, she meant no subtext. However, her choice of words probably wasn't the best… who knows why?

 **TANATOSU:** I know, but while writing chapter you have to stop somewhere…

* * *

 **Chapter VI – Anguish and Despair**

…

All conditions fulfilled. **Valkyrie Trace System**... Activate!

"AAAHHHHHHH!" Laura let out a heartrending scream as if she just got ripped by something. At the same time, **Schwarzer Regen** let out a strong electrical jolt, that lit up the entire arena.

Ichika was already half-way towards arena's west gates when that happened. "What?" He stopped and turned around. _'WTF is that?!'_ Seemingly, there were still things in this world that could surprise even Ichika.

In front of him, Laura's I.S. was changing… No, it wasn't that simple to say that it was changing. The lines that formed the armor were melting softly into something shapeless and sticky, engulfing Laura's body in it. The pitch black corroded darkness swallowed Laura in whole.

"Okay… that is something…" Ichika said to himself. Probably anyone who would've seen something like this would've been… confused, at least. Normally, I.S. can somehow change its shape, but definitely not that drastically.

I.S. can only change shape when it undergoes the first shift, which happens when it gets used to the pilot and, in very rare occasions, it can change shape once more when it undergoes the second shift. The equipment and some other parts may appear or transform, but Ichika never heard about I.S. capable of completely transforming into clot of black goo…

However, he couldn't deny the thing that was happening right in front of his eyes now. What was supposed to be **Schwarzer Regen** covered Laura's entire body and continued to move on the surface. It then started to beat like it had a pulse as it was slowly descending to the floor, and it was quickly changing at a high speed, before taking its final shape.

Standing over there was _something_ , similar to the black I.S., but it was completely different from the one that attacked last month. The appearance and shape was of Laura's shape. The girl's hands and feet were protected with the minimum amount of armor, and the head had armor that covered the entire face. Also, the red lights of the display sensors could be seen from the eye below the armor.

The problem, however, was the weapon in her hand. I definitely couldn't be mistaken. That was… **Yukihira** [Snowflake]… It was similar to the sword Chifuyu used during first Mondo Grosso, which she won. That sword was basically a duplicate.

The next moment, the black I.S. flew toward Ichika. Looking at the way 'she' (supposing it's still Laura) was keeping the sword behind her waist, she seemingly was preparing to use a Iai technique. That was definitely the katana technique that Chifuyu uses. Basically, considering it as a normal sword technique, it'd be a flash sure-kill hit. "So, they actually did that…" Ichika shook his head as his own sword appeared in Messiah's left hand and plasma blade was gloving again.

Yeah, Ichika knew about VT System, or rather, he knew the overall summary. There's no way that so weird an uncreative (in Ichika's opinion) technology could catch Ichika's interest. That's why he was surprised when he saw the activation of VT System – partially he was surprised to see that someone actually wasted time to implement that tech…

Their swords clashed, and Ichika barely managed to parry enemy's attack. No doubts – that speed and power – that was perfectly polished Chifuyu's sword-using style. The enemy raised the sword up for another attack, the sharp slash that was swung down straight on assaulted Ichika, but again he parried that attack. There was even no need to foresee her future moves – Ichika just knew too well how his sister fights.

* * *

That technique was the first technique Ichika learnt from his elder sister, and he still could remember the first time he tried to use it. Ichika managed to raise the sword and hold it properly, but when he tried to release his right arm, he immediately was scolded by Chifuyu. "Ichika, hold to the sword with both arms. If you want your swing to be strong, you shouldn't hold a sword like some stick!'' When she said that, Chifuyu's eyes were stern, yet it had a tinge of gentleness. It looked somewhat dazzling, an expression that was different from usual.

Ichika looked at his sister questioningly. For him, who had to do all the homework since he was three years old (Chifuyu was busy with part-time job since their parents abandoned them), his hands already were pretty strong, and, despite katana wasn't lightweight, he didn't feel that he need both hands to hold or swing it. "It's not that heavy," He replied, "And if you can hold it with one hand you should do so, since you can use your free hand to do something else."

Being met with cold logic, Chifuyu sighed. "I've not meant the weight of material, from which sword was forged. I meant the weight of a weapon, one that can take someone's life away." The cold and slightly glittering katana. An existence that was born, created and refined to kill. "You have to consider what does it means to carry such a weight…"

After all, no matter what Ichika decided about _'weight of a weapon that can take someone's life'_ , he decided that using both hand to hold sword is irrational – that was one of the reasons why he abandoned modern kendo and switched to specific kenjutsu school, and started to learn to use katana with one hand.

* * *

"Urgent emergency! All matches are suspended! Situation's at level D. Teachers are to deploy and suppress the enemy! All guests and students, please evacuate! I repeat!" Maya Yamada's voice announced.

"It seems that show is over," Ichika said as he executed reverse Ignition Boost, dashing backward, creating distance between himself and black I.S. However, black I.S. didn't followed him, despite his expectations. It remained where it was, as if observing him. Right now, it seemed like it was automatically programmed to attack anything that would attack.

"Ichika, what's going on?!" He heard Charlotte's voice. She was waiting for Ichika in hangar, but when emergency occurred, she again deployed her I.S. and jumped back to arena. At that moment, additional metallic shields sealed arena to protect spectators at arena's stand, thus preventing them to see what was going on inside arena.

"Ichika!" Houki only could call for her childhood friend, but of course he was unable to hear it.

"Come on, Houki-san, let's get out of here," Cecilia urged Houki to follow her, however, probably right now, she and Rin could understand how Houki feels whenever something's happening, with Ichika involved, and she couldn't help as she has no personal I.S.

On arena, Charlotte now called Ichika via private channel. "Ichika, c'mon, didn't you hear the announcement?! All students shall evacuate!"

"Charlotte," Ichika replied with somehow tired voice, as if he was forced to explain an obvious thing, "I.S. Academy may be an independent facility, but it's still on Japan's territory, as such Japanese law enforcement organizations are bound to protect it in case of emergency. Since they've declared the level D alert, I'm no longer your co-student Ichika Orimura, until situation is settled I'm lieutenant-commander Orimura of Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force." Unlike Charlotte, Ichika said it via broadcast channel (except for girl's name), so people in teachers' room also could hear him. "It's my duty to deal with this situation…"

"Yes, but, Orimura-san…" Yamada-sensei tried to say something but Ichika interrupted her.

"Maya, right now it's not '-san', it's 'Lt. commander'. Situation is under control," He replied.

Maya Yamada helplessly looked at Chifuyu, who stood right behind her, as if asking for help, but Ichika's elder sister only shrugged. "He said it's under control. Let him do his job…" She said emotionlessly.

"But Ichika-san, what are you going to do?" Charlotte asked in confusion, she was in slight shock as she completely forgot that Ichika actually is a military officer.

"Level D alert means situation that present immediate danger to academy's students, personal and guests lives," Ichika explained. "As such, situation should be dealt with by any means necessary. _Lethal force authorized_ ," Ichika made an accent on last phrase as Fold Out armor on his wings turned downwards, switching to assault mode. Now his weapon was at 160% of its normal capacity. **Ragnarök** took shape of sniper rifle, **Ambassador**.

The moment Charlotte heard three last word of Ichika's phrase her eyes widened in horror, "Wait Ichika, don't tell me you're going to…" But everything was happening so fast that she simply couldn't finish her phrase.

His weapon began to glow brightly, as if draining light from surroundings, clear sign of the fact that Ichika activated his One Off ability – **Paradise of Darkness**. Enemy I.S. recognized Ichika's actions as direct aggression. It prepared to execute Ignition Boost to attack him, but it was already too late – Ichika pulled the trigger.

The moment Ichika shot, distance between him and black I.S. was about 80 yards, thus plasma projectile's travel time was only 0.07 seconds. Neither I.S. nor human could dodge in such a time (though black I.S. hasn't tried to), it was a direct hit into enemy unit's chest area. Back then, during first Mondo Grosso, were no weapons like Ichika used now so seemingly black I.S. wasn't programmed to deal with such threats.

Enormously bright and powerful plasma blast shook the entire arena.

When dust dissipated, there huge crater remained almost at arena's center. Right in the middle of it, at its bottom, body of young girl was lying. Black I.S. disappeared, but, surprisingly, girl's body didn't turn to vapor, though her I.S. suit was almost completely burned.

* * *

"…Let me give you some advice. Once you meet that guy, make sure you have a strong heart. That person's sarcastic, insolent, arrogant, completely unpredictable, and, sometimes, quite cruel, but, despite that, for some reason, he sure can attract the girls easily. You may fall for him if you're not careful, you know?" Chifuyu, Laura's instructor at that time, seemed to say that happily, even showing some slight embarrassment, and that really irritated her trainee.

And she understood. Yes, she felt jealous, so Laura finally asked, "Have you fallen for him, instructor?"

"What a nonsense? How can an elder sister fall for her little brother?" Chifuyu replied as if that question was completely stupid, thought that phrase sounded somehow strange, not as certain as Instructor's words usually sounds… And Chifuyu smiled as she said that, as Laura couldn't calm down. That guy was able to let the instructor show such an expression… Damn, she was so envious of him.

And then, after they met, after the battle, she finally understood.

* * *

Laura was floating in darkness. There was nothing in here, nothing at all. Her body couldn't move, she was completely strengthless. _'Have I died?'_ She thought.

 _'No, surprisingly, you didn't,'_ Suddenly, someone replied. She knew that voice. It belongs to instructor's little brother… _'Though, it's not a certainty yet. Your body possesses enough endurance to survive, but now all depends on strength of your will to live…'_

 _'Strength? What is strength?'_ Laura thought. _'There should be numerous answers…'_

 _'I guess so,'_ She heard a reply. _'It could be referring to physical abilities, or skillset, or many other things. However, forget about how strong or skillful you are, if you don't even know what you're doing, you don't even know where to go, then it's all meaningless…'_

 _"In other words, you're strong if you do what you want?'_ She wondered.

 _'I wouldn't put it like that, it's better to say that life without purpose is weakness by itself,'_ Ichika replied.

 _'Then what about you? Do you have something what you're living for? That's why you're so strong?'_ She asked.

 _'I'm strong by my birthright… but of course I have goals in my life that must be achieved. No, goals that will be achieved…'_ Was his reply.

 _'Instructor was right… That guy sure is arrogant…'_ Laura smiled.

 _'Instructor isn't the one to speak about arrogance, believe the one who spent more than ten years in her care,'_ Ichika snorted.

 _'Wait, you can hear my thoughts?!'_ Laura just realized that she actually didn't say anything, all that were her thoughts.

 _'This place is where I.S. cores exist, so called 'I.S. Network'. Sometimes, I.S. pilots can establish direct link between their minds through that space, using connections between I.S. cores… well, something like that… so I'd suggest you to not think about something you don't want me to know,'_ Ichika explained. _'Survive… and maybe we talk again…'_

As she heard that, I.S. link connection was lost and Laura was left alone.

 _'He said that. I… Ahh, I see, so that's it... That's how it is…'_ Her heart moved. Laura's rapidly pulsating heart indicated that in front of him, she was just a fifteen-year-old…  girl? _'Orimura… Ichika… Ahh, that… don't tell me…'_

As she thought that, Laura lost her consciousness.

* * *

About 9 PM. Today was one of the longest days of the year, and setting sun looked so nice today. "Uu, ahh..." The sunlight shone down on Laura, waking her up. Or maybe she was awoken by loud voices nearby.

"…oh, and where was that compassion of yours when she sent Cecilia and Rin into sickbay? I just wanted her to learn that being on receiving end of such a treatment isn't so joyful," Male's voce said without emotions. That voice Laura recognized – he was the one who talked to her right before she lost consciousness.

"You can justify yourself whatever way you like. I just hope that all your fangirls will finally understand who you actually are," Irritated female voice replied. Laura recognized this voice as well. She had heard it before, and not only that, Laura was able to deduce where she heard of it before. It was the instructor she so loved and respected, Orimura Chifuyu.

"Justify myself? Have I ever tried to do so, onee-san? I'm taking full responsibility for my every action," Ichika replied. "Even if you think that I've really went a bit overboard…"

"'A bit overboard'?" Chifuyu hissed. "You almost crippled her, and then shot, using your most powerful attack, with explicit intent to evaporate her, this is what you call 'a bit overboard'?" Seemingly, right now Chifuyu wasn't a teacher, she was an elder sister, who seemed quite displeased with her brother's choice of actions.

"Does it matter how I call it? Maybe, when I was crashing her joints that really could be seen as an explicit display of my 'violent nature', but since no one but Charlotte saw what exactly happened after blast curtains were closed, now all those girls think that I somehow 'saved' Laura from that 'black thing' that consumed her, which is partially the truth…" Ichika said. Chifuyu facepalmed, on her face was expression of complete hopelessness "…so I'm still kinda good guy. People usually hear what they want to hear, and teenage girls especially proficient with that skill."

"Shut up," Chifuyu sighed.

"Alright, alright, maybe the show with sword right before match was concluded was unnecessary, but I have no intentions to apologize for anything that happened after **VTS** was activated. Treat level unknown, enemy's intentions unknown – I'm not going to take any risks in that situation."

"You knew about VT System?" Chifuyu asked as her tone changed a bit.

"Only summary," Ichika replied, "Couldn't imagine that someone could really waste efforts to implement that trashy tech. Of course, I liked my sister being called a 'Valkyrie' and all, but then, it is still was recreation of past – recreation of past is nonsense, plain and simple. But that's why, with so many nonsensical variables in equitation, I had no right to hesitate," He explained his actions once more.

"I know," Chifuyu waved him off, of course she knew what her younger brother meant, and that's why this entire situation was so irritating. Once again worthless adults threw kids into mess… "Alright, we'll talk later, 'lieutenant-commander'…" Chifuyu looked towards screen, behind which was Laura's bed.

Ichika nodded, "Ministry of defense want me to report about incident, I'm leaving. Later," He said and left the room as Chifuyu came to Laura's bed.

"Are you awake?" She asked.

"Uh… What's... happened… with me...?" Laura could barely move her lips, let alone move any other muscle.

"It's easier to said what hasn't happened with you," Chifuyu replied. "You were in coma for several hours."

"In coma…?" That should be an exclamation but actually it was just a weak moan.

"Do you know of the **VT system**?" Chifuyu asked.

"I do..." Laura replied. "The actual… name is **Valkyrie Trace System**... Basically… It was an attempt to record… and then replicate tactic, moves and techniques of all the previous Mondo Grosso's Champions… I remember that's..."

"That's right. Right now, the research, and even the development, usage and all is banned under the I.S. treaty, but your I.S. was outfitted with that system," Chifuyu informed.

"..." Laura remained silent.

"It was hidden really well. The pilot's mental state, the damage the machine took, and most importantly, the pilot's will... no, the desire. It can only activate with all these conditions were fulfilled. Right now, the academy's questioning the German Army, and the committee members will most likely carry out an investigation," Chifuyu said. "Your entire body took much burden due to system activation. However… it was not that bad, comparing to what _that guy_ did to you…" She added with sigh. "Don't try to move, most of your joint ware… let's say, temporary disabled. I'm afraid you'll have to spend about a week in wheelchair…"

"…A week… in wheelchair…" These words sounded pretty dull.

"I'm afraid so," Chifuyu nodded. "As you should remember, there are some sort of threshold in I.S. defense, when attack poses a serious hazard to a pilot, to permanently mutilate her, for example, I.S. will activate Absolute Barrier. However…" As much as Chifuyu didn't want to admit it, she had to "… _he_ knows I.S. logic very well, in particular, he knows exactly where that threshold lies, so his blows were just strong enough to cripple you, but only temporary, thus not giving your I.S. a reason to activate the absolute defense. And yes, he's a real sadist, don't bother yourself with that…"

After finishing, Chifuyu wanted to change the topic, but Laura was still her past student, it wasn't easy to fool her. "What... happened... to my I.S?" Laura couldn't move, but her eyes were staring intently at Chifuyu. The eyepatch was taken off her left eye for surgery, and it was a golden eye that was different from the eye on her right. This mysterious eye was merely showing a puzzled look.

"Frame was completely destroyed, but it seems that core remained intact, so it is possible to rebuild it if you have spare parts…" Chifuyu answered her question. "Of course, everything related to **VT system** was removed."

On hearing Chifuyu's words, Laura grabbed tightly onto the bedsheets. For some reason, she looked down at the void below her eyes. "Instructor… the **VT system** … It worked because... I wished for this…" Laura admitted. _'I wanted to be you…'_ Laura didn't say it, but Chifuyu understood.

"Laura Bodewig!" Chifuyu called for her former trainee loudly.

"Ye-Yes!" Having her full name called out, Laura looked up in surprise.

"Who are you?" Instructor asked.

"I-I'm... I'm... mmm..." She can't continue on. Under this situation, she can't say that she's Laura.

"If you are no one, that's convenient. You will become Laura Bodewig from now on," Chifuyu declared. "Besides, there's a lot of time, since you have to stay here. After that, until you die, you still have a lot of time to use, so continue to be bothered, young lady."

"Ah..." Chifuyu's words confound Laura. As she never expected Chifuyu to encourage her, she didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to answer, as she couldn't even say a single word.

"Listen, basically, all that transpired after your match against Orimura is both a major case and a top-secret article," Chifuyu informed. "However, all involved authorities, including Lt. commander Orimura, have agreed that there is no reason to carry any investigations regarding you personally." Chifuyu got up from the chair and began to leave. She had said whatever she wanted to say, and was ready to head back to being in the position of a teacher. "Oh, and also," Chifuyu put her hand on the door, and without turning back, added on, "You can't become me. If you become that guy's elder sister, you will continue to worry like me."

She did smile when she said that, right? Laura felt this way. And she didn't sound unhappy…

Then, a few minutes after Chifuyu left the room, Laura began to feel weird.

"Fu, fufu... hahaha," Laura couldn't withhold laughter. _'Ah, such a cunning pair of siblings. They're like sky and earth, or rather, heavens and hell, yet they're so similar… Both of them always disappears after saying what they wanted to say…'_

Having said so much, she still had to consider this. What was more sly than that? _'Think on my own, act on my own. Is that so...'_ Though just laughing alone was difficult and would cause aches in her entire body, Laura still felt happy. That was a devastating defeat. She lost thoroughly, lost completely… She was crippled… But she never felt better. _'Right now… The life of Laura Bodewig begins now…'_

* * *

Late evening, 10:50 PM, cafeteria. In normal situation, it should be closed long ago, but it's worktime was extended, due to tournament very dense schedule. Still, because there were a lot of paperwork and questions, Ichika barely made it in time. Charlotte was with him, by a certain reason.

"In the end, due to an 'unexpected situation', they decided to cancel all 1st grade students' matches, except the first round," Ichika informed. "Since they need their data, 2nd and 3rd grades will continue tournament as planned, though several matches were re-scheduled… Charlotte, hey, are you listening?" Ichika called for French girl, as she seemed distracted.

"Ah? Oh yeah, sorry… I'm just, well…" Charlotte replied perplexedly.

"Still cannot remember?" Ichika asked.

"Yes…" Girl sighed. The thing was – Charlotte couldn't remember the incident everyone was talking about. In fact – last thing she could remember – she was fighting against Houki, her memories break off, she couldn't even remember how it ended, though people told her that she actually won pretty easily. As far as she could remember – she's fighting Houki… and then, suddenly, she's in hangar and Ichika was explaining to her that tournament was halted due to an incident, Laura was hospitalized, and he's thankful for her support. What incident? What support? What happened to Laura?

Right after the incident with **VT system** , academy's authorities tried to question her, but she simply couldn't remember anything about 'incident with Laura'. She was even examined by psychologist, who, in the end, decided that girl experienced severe shock and 'her brain locked her own memories to preserve mental integrity'. And since 'forcing her to remember could only cause a relapse', Ichika only explained her a general picture of what happened, without 'unnecessary details'.

Still, Charlotte herself was very interested in remembering everything, since she also forgot entire match between Laura and Ichika, but she constantly was hearing talkings like that:

"I was really shocked to see Ichika brutalizing that girl…"

"Yeah, I can't say a liked her, yet I think he went overboard with that…"

"But still, when that… thing consumed her, he saved her, right?"

"Yes… and I've heard he carried her to the hospital himself…"

"That's what they call _Hime-sama no Motsu_?... [Princess carry]"

"Ah… what I have to do to be carried like that…"

And some other variations of such dialogs. So yeah, she really wanted to remember what happened, especially because, during initial questioning, teachers mentioned that Charlotte herself was present on the arena and 'helped Ichika to resolve situation with Bodewig-san'. But, again, she couldn't remember a thing… Especially that was annoying, when at the cafeteria's entrance she found a large number of girls waiting, ready to question her and Ichika, but he simply said that it's top secret case, and he can't talk about that to anyone.

On a side note, Ichika didn't talk to Houki, Rin and Cecilia, as they weren't present among those girls. In fact, he didn't talk to them since today's morning, when they were taking breakfast before matches. Of course, Ichika was quite busy during last few hours, but he was a bit surprised that none of them didn't even try to question him about what has happened when blast curtains were closed. Maybe, when Ichika was 'tormenting' Laura, that was more shocking experience for them than for others, since they knew him better (or they thought so), and now they needed some time to stomach what they have seen… anyway, Ichika wasn't thinking about that right now.

Now he was thinking about how he managed to 'talk' to Laura via 'I.S. Network'. He had heard of it before, but actually it was the first time he experienced that himself. In fact, it should be some sort of a consciousness interference when the pilots are of the same wavelength, or something like that. I.S. itself has a lot of phenomenons and functions that yet needs to be explained, and also, the inventor, Professor Shinonono Tabane herself never revealed the complete details.

Though she once said that I.S. was designed to improve itself, it seems like she herself couldn't grasp it, so she couldn't even roughly describe it." That was very like her. That person basically wouldn't bother with things she wasn't interested in... she could have checked it out herself. Seems like she deliberately chose not to do so.

"Anyway," Ichika called for Charlotte again, "It seems your plan to 're-introduce' yourself after everyone will exhaust themselves after tournament have failed. What you're gonna do now?" He wondered. "No matter what, but I'd strongly recommend you to rid of your disguise ASAP… maybe shock due today's accident will smother the expression…"

"I… I know…" Girl replied uncertainly. "I guess… I guess I just have to do it, right? Come what may…" She sighed heavily.

"Ah, Dunois-kun… Orimura-kun… You're here," Yamada-sensei approached their table. Even without any special ability Ichika could tell that it's somehow difficult for her to talk to them… most likely to Ichika, specifically. That was understandable, unlike Charlotte she remembered everything what happened on the arena, and, unlike Chifuyu, he knew little about Ichika's way of thinking. She remembered that, to resolve the 'situation', Ichika chose to obliterate Laura together with her 'infected' I.S., and he did it without hesitation.

"Oh, Yamada-sensei? You wanted something?" Ichika asked in casual manner, ignoring Maya's behavior.

"Ah, that… yes. Actually, I've come to deliver some good news…" She said as she tried to look official. "Starting today, the boys' bath is opened," As she said that, she swung her arms, and that voluptuous chest of her shook due to the weight, and of course Ichika couldn't to not notice that.

"Ichika no ecchi," Though that was just a little side comment from Charlotte, Ichika could hear it clearly.

"Humph," Ichika snorted, meaning that she's right and he don't care. Then he looked at Maya, "Why? You really had no reason to bother yourself with that, sensei," Again, Ichika wasn't a big fan of baths, so he didn't show much of enthusiasm.

"Oh… oh, it's nothing, really… We just had to check the boiler of the baths today, so the students weren't allowed to use it. But now that the inspection's done, there's no need to prevent the two guys from using it," Yamada-sensei explained.

"Well, thank you for your efforts, Yamada-sensei," Ichika replied as Charlotte bowed politely.

"Oh, well… thanks…" Maya stuttered as if she wasn't expected Ichika to be thankful and he was more polite than usual. "An… anyway, both of you, please hurry to the bath. I know it's already late, but you just need to soak your body up to your shoulders to remove all your fatigue, right?"

"Well, let's give it a try, shall we?" Ichika said, withholding a smile. Oh yes, Yamada-sensei did say 'both of you, please hurry to the bath', she did refer to Charlotte and Ichika like that. No surprise – up until now, French girl had always been attending school as 'Charles'. From Maya's POV, it wouldn't be natural to go in separately, and she meant both Ichika and Charlotte to use it together.

"What's wrong?" Yamada-sensei wondered. Unlike Ichika, Charlotte seemed strained, and Maya couldn't understand why. _'Could it be that he's afraid of him? Ah, no, poor boy doesn't remember anything… besides, they're eating together…'_ Maya shook her head to throw away such thoughts, and her boobs bounced again. "Okay, okay. Both of you, hurry and get your change of clothes. I have the key to the bath, so I'll be waiting for both of you in front of the changing room. So then," After saying that, Yamada-sensei immediately scooted off...

"Charlotte?" Ichika looked at blonde, trying to not show his interest about what she's going to do in this situation.

"Well, that's trouble...some," Girl mumbled. "What do we do? An… anyway, let's go back to the room to get our change of clothes…"

* * *

While getting their clothes, Ichika and Charlotte didn't have time to talk about normal stuff, and could only prepare to bathe.

And then…

"Ah, you're here! Please enter, You're the first ones in!" Maya sounded really excited, maybe because she saw Charlotte first. That bath was closed for some time, and seemingly it was repaired and reopened for Ichika and 'Charles'. Yamada-sensei sent them in, saying "Take your time," as she closed the door to the changing room.

Then, the time of silence came, and Charlotte was staring somewhere aside. Ichika wasn't feeling himself awkward at all. That was one of many things he had in common with his sister – undressing in front of someone of opposite gender wasn't a problem for neither of Orimura siblings. Don't get it wrong – it wasn't an exhibitionism at all, just still confidence that their bodies are very good looking, so there's no reason to feel shame.

Charlotte, on the other hand, was just a normal girl…

"Oh, well…" In the end, Ichika pitied the poor girl. After all, she suffered memory loss today, maybe hot bath would help her to release some of her stress. "You're tired today, right, Charlotte? Go in then. I'll go back to the room, I have a lot of things to occupy myself."

"Huh? What about you, Ichika?" She looked surprised.

"I already told you, I'm not fond of baths anyway, I'll use it next time," Ichika waved her off, "Besides, I always could visit Shinononos' shrine (Houki's family) if I wanted to take bath… So just go in, try it out."

"Well... I don't really like to take baths, either…" Girl replied uncertainly. Seemingly, Charlotte had similar thoughts – after all, Ichika fought against Laura, dealing with some situation (which she couldn't remember). "Taking shower in room is more than enough for me…"

"Nice…" Ichika smiled ironically. "Well, I guess it's natural, but don't you think it will look quite rude if we both just walk away? That would mean that all Maya's efforts were in vain… though, I warned her that it might turn out like this, several times."

"Yes, I think you're right…" She scratched her cheek.

"Alright then, I'll go," Ichika decided. "After all, I'm Japanese, so I should act like one from time to time… some of us can't live without those baths, no idea why…"

"Ah, al… alright, go take a bath then, Ichika. Don't mind me, okay?" Charlotte agreed. "Hey!" She suddenly yelped as she quickly turned around. When she said that Ichika should go take bath he began to undress, without thinking about teenage girl's feelings.

"Ah, sorry," Ichika said casually as he moved to a place where Charlotte couldn't see him and took off rest of his clothes, "Alright, I'm going in then."

"O… Okay, take your time," He heard her reply.

There was a large bath in the room, 2 medium-sized baths that had massaging and air-bubbling functions respectively, and one hinoki bath. Furthermore, there was also a sauna, a body shower and even a waterfall-style massage water pillar. It's quite a diversity, to be honest.

 _'Oh, that's actually quite nice,'_ Ichika thought as he noticed hydro massaging bath, _'Maybe it won't be a complete waste of time after all.'_ One thing that his muscle-control implants couldn't do – massage.

Enjoying hydro massage, Ichika submerged into his thoughts. In particular, he was thinking how exactly Laura survived that blast. Shot from Ichika's most powerful weapon, in overload mode, empowered with **Paradise of Darkness**. Not that he wanted her to be dead in the first place – she was short-minded and annoying, but that's not the reason to kill someone – Ichika was actually glad that she's survived. But how? Seemingly, somehow, her deformed I.S. protected her, despite I.S. itself was completely annihilated. And its core remained intact, also. It looked like, in that goo-like form, Laura's I.S. managed to distribute blast's energy on its entire surface evenly. If so, it could be very intriguing defensive mechanism…

Ichika's thoughts were interrupted as he suddenly heard the door to the changing room opening. What's that? While he was thinking, he lost the track of time and Maya Yamada came to tell him that it's time to leave? Ah, no, it's not she – Ichika's sense of danger was very keen, so he couldn't just ignore it. He looked at door and saw Charlotte entering the bathroom. A pair of beautiful legs was walking on the wet marble. "I-I'm coming in..." She said uncertainly.

"Okay…" Ichika shrugged, as he again looked at a completely naked Charlotte. Of course, she had a towel wrapped around her, but it was a thin sports towel. The color of the skin behind could roughly be seen, and because of the backlight, he could see the body curves extremely clearly.

"...Do-Don't look! Ichika no ecchi..." She exclaimed as she noticed Ichika's gaze.

Ichika closed his eyes with his palm… ah, no, he wasn't closing his eyes, he was just facepalming. _'You yourself decided to came here naked, and now you want me to care about your dignity or whatever? Who do you think I am?'_ Ichika thought as he removed his palm from face and again looked at girl, with sorrow in his eyes.

Charlotte understood that he's not going to do just anything out of pity, besides, Ichika's quota of pity for today was already spent. "Please, Ichika-san!" She pleaded. "Just turn around for a few moments! There are important things I have to say, but I can't go on while you're looking at me!"

Ichika thought for a few moments. "Oh, all right…" He rolled his eyes and then turned around, away from door. Naturally, that didn't change anything as with his 360 degrees' field of vision he still could see her almost as good as before. Charlotte removed her towel, probably thinking that now she's safe from Ichika's sight, and submerged into the bath where Ichika was.

Ah, no… She really has very nice body, with quite seductive curves. And her body was still developing, if she'd been just a bit more mature (Ichika's opinion…) Two small and very soft palms touched Ichika's back, and then she embraced him from behind, pressing her slender body onto his back. Like that, even Ichika couldn't remain completely calm. For a few moments, some smutty thoughts popped up in his head, but… _'Ah, no… it won't do…'_ As he continued to watch over her actions, he understood that there won't be a continuation for that, she wasn't trying to seduce him, it was just a way for her to 'borrow his courage'. _'I guess it's her limit…'_ Ichika thought a but sadly.

"Ichika, I'll say it because it's here – I want to remain here because you are here," She finally spoke out.

"I, I see..." Ichika sighed. No, she definitely wasn't trying to seduce him… too bad.

"Also, that... I decided on something," She added, definitely not meaning that she decided to have sex with him right now.

"Something?" Ichika asked without enthusiasm… well, he was disappointed.

"Yup, how I ought to live. Ichika taught me that, right?" Her voice trembled a bit.

"I hope so…" He rolled his eyes. "So, you're going to admit your real identity tomorrow?"

"Yes," She simply replied.

"Well then, tell me, how long are you planning to remain in this position?" He asked casually. Honestly, having tender girl's body so close was quite nice, but if that's all he's going to get, then he'd wanted to try another bath, the one with bubble generator.

"Ah, ahh, oh! That's right! I, I have... to wash my body and hair first!" Charlotte finally seemed to notice her situation as she got away from Ichika with water splatting sounds, standing up from the pool. "Don't… Don't look here, okay!?" Ichika remained silent, he has already tired from her requests that contradict her real desires. He simply stood up and headed to another pool. "Kyaah!" She yelped as he saw him and quickly turning around, "Ichika, warn me before you're going to do something like that!" She demanded. Of course she didn't fool anyone – she was excited to the limit about what she just saw… thought, she probably couldn't handle all that excitement.

They continued to bath for about 30 more minutes. As they were walking back towards their room, Charlotte's face was still beet-red, definitely her excitement went over the limit. Also, it seems that she still didn't realize yet – since she's going to tell everyone who she really is tomorrow, this night will be their last night as roommates.

* * *

June 26th, 8:40 AM

The next day, HRS. In fact, homeroom was today's only class, even for first grades, even though first grade students were no longer competing, all classes were canceled until the end of the month (i.e. tournament). So, naturally, almost all first grade students will be watching tournament, as 2nd and 3rd grade will continue to compete. Ichika was looking forward for it, especially he was interested in watching other 3rd generation I.S. in action – maybe he'll see something interesting.

Laura wasn't here. Well, that is understandable, he was quite rough with her yesterday. And Charlotte…

"Good… Good morning everyone..." For some reason, Yamada-sensei tumbled as she walked into the classroom. Maybe that's because she was staring at Ichika, instead of looking where she was going. "Orimura-san, I don't know what you were thinking, but you can't treat me as a kid! Sensei's angry. Haa..."

 _'I'm pretty sure I can… Oh, wait… So that's how it is…'_ Ichika understood the situation. When early this morning Ichika met Chifuyu, she told him that she's needed at arena, and won't show up in class until the end of the tournament. But only now he realized that this tricky woman simply abandoned Maya, leaving her with some weird duties… _'Well, I'm definitely not the only one who's treating you as a kid.'_

"Uhm, today... I will be introducing a new student. Umm..." Maya said uncertainly.

"What?! Transfer student?!" Ichika's classmates seem to respond at the same time, as there's a commotion. It's already this late into the term, and their class already had two transfer students. Another one? Their confusion was quite understandable.

"Okay, please enter," Maya said.

"Sorry to intrude," Girl's voice replied from outside the room before Ichika's (now former) roommate entered the classroom.

"I'm Charlotte Dunois. Everyone, it's nice to see you," Wearing a dress, Charlotte gave a deep bow. Excluding Ichika, everyone in the class was stunned, but they still bowed back politely.

"Erm, Dunois-kun is actually Dunois-san, just like that. Haa... I have to reassign dorms again..." Yamada mumbled incoherently.

And then _that_ started…

"Wha? Dunois-kun was a girl...?"

"I always knew that it's weird! She's not a bishounen [girlish boy], but a bishoujo [boyish girl]."

"Stop! Orimura-sama, you were sharing a room together, don't tell me…"

"Wait a minute! I remember the bath was being used by the guys yesterday!?"

*Zawazawazawazza!* The buzzing surrounded the entire room, and the next moment, it rushed out.

Well, Ichika was expecting something like this.

*BAM!* The classroom door looked like it got kicked down.

"IIICCCHHHIIIKKKAAA!" Crashing in and saying hello was Huang Lingyin. Her expression was showing rage that was like burning fire, and there seemed to be a dragon behind her. It didn't seem good – among girls, which were constantly swirling around Ichika, she probably was most yanderish… but Ichika wasn't the one yandere girls could scare. He slowly turned towards Chinese girl and looked straight into her eyes. One look into his absolute-zero-cold, slightly gloving eyes cooled down Rin's passion quicker than five tons of ground ice.

"What's up, _Hetare Nigō_ " Ichika asked with so soft and nice voice that it could chill to the bones. "And before you'll do something foolish, I'd like to remind you that my sister isn't here to protect you," Saying this, he was addressing everyone in the room – preventive measure, as he noticed that _Hetare Ichigō_ aka Cecilia also wanted to say something.

And then it turned out just as Ichika's warned. Rin, Cecilia, Houki… their fury was still boiling, but the one who they thought was the most guilty… well, he was too unpredictable. And so, they all turned their sights towards Charlotte, who suddenly became their rival in love, and the most successful one. Seems that, despite Ichika clearly showed yesterday that he's not soft and fluffy, they weren't intending to let go yet…

"Well, I guess we're done with HRS for today," Ichika stood up and headed towards classroom's door, "I need to talk to my sister." Seemingly, just like the aforementioned person, Ichika decided to disappear, unwilling to participate in teenage girls' conflict.

"Hey, Ichika-san, wait!" Yamada-sensei called for him. Not only he decided to leave before she announced the end of home room session, if he'll leave – Maya will have to sort that pretty messy situation herself… frightful perspective.

"Ichika-san?!" Charlotte pleaded, almost crying, "Don't set me up like this!"

"Don't worry," Ichika replied, already from corridor, "I'm sure everything will be fine…"

* * *

Same day, few hours later.

It really was a mysterious area. There was machinery stuffed all over the room, and the cables extended out like roots. Moving up the metal, shaped like cables, was a mechanical mouse, and sometimes, screws could be heard dropping like rubber fruits.

This was the only place in the world that had a squirrel that identified extraneous parts, analyzed the design, took it in and formed another shape. Yes, this was Shinonono Tabane's secret base.

"Oh… Okay… Oh…" Shinonono Tabane looked a lot more weirder than any usual woman… and unusual, too.

She was wearing a western dress that was as blue as the sky, just like Alice in 'Alice in Wonderland'. The apron and the huge butterfly wings that now were behind her back was also eye-catching.

As expected of Houki's own older sister, they were similar in appearance. However, what made them greatly different from each other was that Houki had bright, piercing eyes, while Tabane's eyes were lethargic looking due to lack of sleep. There were black rings below her eyes, gathered during several years.

This may be what people meant by 'Geniuses can't be liberated from their thoughts'. Her dreamland got taken by the time spent in experiments, and thus she had never experienced sleeping soundly for once. Tabane probably didn't even know what a real sleep should be like.

Tabane was different from her sister. She didn't know any kind of sports, let alone kendo, and she had never done that before. But her body was very streamlined and curvy… And what was most eye-catching were those huge breasts of hers.

The buttons on her chest were about to burst open, probably due to the misfit in size. Through the gap of the white shirt, one could see the tempting skin color of the woman.

Also, the hairband on her head could also be considered a problem. She had white bunny ears on them... basically, she had completely gotten into the role of 'Alice in Wonderland'.

It was already weird to dress up like Alice and a white bunny at the same time, but that was Tabane's interest, and the clothing she liked. Last month, her choice of clothing was a mix of clothes of all the characters in 'Hansel and Gretel'. Needless to say, that looked ridiculous. But for genius of her caliber that is pardonable, maybe even normal in some sense…

And Tabane, who was dressed up like this, was sitting on the strange chair. It may be weird to describe it as a chair, but it could only be described as that. The metallic chair was giving off a silver glow, and the body of the chair was large and curved, surrounding Tabane's body like a cage. It looked like a fossilized dinosaur.

And Tabane just needed to move a finger, and the cables linked on the top would let the mechanisms move. Once she moved the fingertips slightly, each part of the chair moved like they were alive as they gave the orders to the small mechanical hands. And right now, the mechanical hands were quickly moving their tweezers to assemble smaller parts.

The chair was assembling something, attaching smaller parts with even smaller mechanical hands. After repeating the process numerous times, they finally stopped, and what was formed was a plastic I.S. model that was created from nano-units.

It was weird, and useless, and it was so stupid that anyone would want to give her a punch. This was probably what 'wasting time' meant to her.

"Ah… done. It is complete. The painting and the surface streamlining are perfect…" Tabane said so in a bored manner and walked out of the chair. The chair was tightly packed together, and there was no sign of it crumbling, but it would immediately crumble once Tabane touched it, forming a hill of spare parts.

"Oh… I'm bored, bored," She complied.

Suddenly, she heard her smartphone. The Godfather's theme rang. This is a famous theme hoodlums entering the new century would use, but the composer most probably did not expect someone in the Far East to love this song. To be honest, it would be interesting to see whether the composer would be extremely happy or sigh about this if he knew about it.

"This, this ringtone is... Ha!" Tabane immediately became excited. A large jump, or rather, she jumped at her smartphone in a diving like manner. Tabane didn't mind that her mug and toolbox got scattered all over the place as she immediately brought the smartphone to her ear.

"Hello, Hi hi? Every day!" That was pretty normal for Tabane to greet someone.

In reply, she heard only short toots, line was cut.

"Wah! Wait wait!" She exclaimed. Maybe it was Tabane's wish coming through or some divine prank as the smartphone rang again.

"Hello! This is everyone's favorite idol Shinonono Tabane!" Seriously, she couldn't just say 'Hello'… But as she heard something like black panther's growl on the other end, she quickly added, "Wait, wait! Chi-chan!"

"Don't you call me that," Deep woman's voice replied. No doubts – it belongs to Orimura Chifuyu.

"Okay, Chi-chan!" Tabane promised joyfully.

*Deep sigh* "Whatever. I have something to ask you anyway," Chifuyu got straightly to the point.

"What is it?" Tabane wondered.

"Is it related to you this time?" Chifuyu asked.

"This time, this time… What are you talking about?" Tabane tilted her head. She was not feigning ignorance, she really had no idea what Chifuyu asked about.

"I'm talking about the **VT system** …" Chifuyu clarified.

"Ah, that? Ohoho, Chi-chan, do you think I created that crude amateurish thing?" Tabane sounded offended, though she wasn't actually offended. "I'm the perfectly flawless Shinonono Tabane. Don't you know that it's meaningless to create such a thing that's not perfect?"

"..." Chifuyu kept silence, she knew that Tabane has more to say.

"If you like, you may ask you-know-who! He'll say the same!" Tabane exclaimed.

*sigh* "Already did, already heard a lecture about trashy-tech-not-even-worth-banning…" Chifuyu replied.

"That's right, that's right!" Houki's sister cried happily. "Speaking of which, as for that research lab, I erased it from the surface of the earth many hours ago... rather, yesterday. Oh, though you may know, the death count is zero. It's as easy as breaking a child's hand… Oh yeah, Chi-chan, is it hard to break one? Am I the only one thinking like this? Oh my, that's weird. Ha ha…" Tabane added on a little laughter and smoothly brought this conversation to an end.

"Really? Sorry for disturbing you," Chifuyu sounded satisfied.

"No no, it's not a bother at all! As long as it's for Chi-chan, I'll service you a full 24 hours a day. I'm not a convenience store! But I'll gladly service you!" Tabane assured.

"Alright, I'm hanging up then…" Chifuyu hung up the phone. It seemed like she wouldn't be calling back again. Tabane looked somewhat regretful as she again stared at the smartphone, but 2 seconds later, she just threw it away without hesitation.

"Oh my, Tabane's happy to hear a voice she hasn't heard in a long time! Chi-chan's still as amazing as ever, don't go running into the other side of the sunset," Tabane folded her arms in front of her chest as she muttered, laughing away.

Orimura Chifuyu and Shinonono Tabane first met each other in elementary school, and after that, they were always in the same school and the same class. Of course, Tabane deliberately sat that up, and Chifuyu was well aware of that. Tabane could pass a university's final exams when other kids of her age were attending 1st grade of elementary school. Yet she chose to attend elementary and then middle school together with Chifuyu.

However, that wasn't all to their relationship. The I.S. was released when Chifuyu was studying in high school, and for the next few years, Chifuyu had been assisting in the I.S. development as a pilot.

In other words, what Chifuyu knew about I.S. already far surpassed the other pilots by a lot, and the comprehension level was on a completely different level. Because of all that training and unique skills, it wasn't a surprise that she became the 1st Mondo Grosso champion… at least that was what Tabane felt.

"But why did Chi-chan choose to retire?" Even now, Tabane couldn't comprehend. In terms of age or ability, Chifuyu could still be a first-stringer if she returned to the squad, and she would immediately become a winning candidate in the next Mondo Grosso. And Tabane wasn't the only one who was wondering about that. In fact, even Ichika didn't know the answer…

However, the human heart was complicated, weird and inexplicable. Seemingly, even a geniuses' minds couldn't comprehend its depths. It was because of just that reason that she wanted to know. Tabane was only interested in three people in the world.

Suddenly, another ringtone could be heard… Yes, this ringtone was really weird. It's likely that among the million fans of 'The Yakuza Wives', Tabane was the only one who would use the BGM of a conversation in the movie as a ringtone. On a side note, the number of fans is just pure speculation, so there may be a large difference in numbers… worth to note. Another weird fact – Tabane wasn't a fan of this movie. It was a reaction she just showed.

The folded bunny ears of hers straightened up, and this response far surpassed all words. Why would that person call here? And for the first time! Could that be?! She already knew who the person was before she even picked up the phone.

"Oh my, oh my, oh my! Long time no see! I've always-always been waiting for you!" Tabane almost shouted in excitement.

"...Nee-san…" That word sounded like it was squeezed out of someone's throat… but that throat definitely belongs to Tabane's little sister – Shinonono Houki.

"Yes yes, I know why you called. You want it, right? The one and only machine that you want – Houki-chan's personal machine. I already have it prepared just for you! It's the strongest and far surpasses all others' specs, and it even won't concede to white one… actually, it's a good match for his machine. And the name of that machine is... **Akatsubaki** [Red Camellia]!"

* * *

Still the same day, same place, one more hour later.

Tabane was really excited. Her sister finally called and requested a personal I.S! **Red Camellia** was waiting for its hour for too long. And timing was impeccable – 7th July was approaching. Ichika kept his word – Houki-chan called, though it took a bit more time than he initially expected.

"…when freedom burns, the final solution, dreams fade away and all hopes turn to dust…" Oh yeah, speak of the devil, her smartphone rang once again. Though of course Tabane wasn't a fan of power metal, she installed a chorus from song 'The Final Solution' as a ringtone for Ichika.

As it was said, Tabane was only interested in three people in the world, and all three called her today… that really was unique situation. And just as Tabane opened her mouth to speak out another weird, self-praising greeting, Ichika began to talk, exactly to not give her a chance to do that. "So, she finally called, did she?" He asked, though he already knew the answer. "And she didn't ask for your number neither me nor onee-san, she had it all this time, was just too stubborn to use it…"

"Yes yes!… Though, Houki-chan sounded like she was desperate… but it's alright! She finally asked for personal I.S!" Tabane replied, as she was still running around her secret lab, Houki's call finally gave her something to do.

"Oh, but of course, I've promised, haven't I? Desperate anguish was the only thing that could broke your sister's colossal stubbornness… I bet nail in the coffin was that idiotism that happened in the class this morning…" Ichika said, but suddenly he stopped talking for a few seconds "…wait, what I just said?! Yes, that's it! **Anguish** and **Despair**! That are their new names, now when I know them, I finally can get to work! Call you later, Tabane-nee!" Ichika hung up the phone.

Again, it was hard to understand what it just was, but Tabane seemingly did understand, as she just smiled before throwing her smartphone away once again.

…

Today's matches were over, and Ichika was in his dorm room, alone, once again. After what happened this morning in the class, none of Ichika's wanna-be-girlfriends expressed any desire to talk to him, and of course Ichika wasn't finding it regrettable. This day was completely devoted to 3rd grade students' matches, however, Ichika couldn't say that he managed to learn something really interesting, observing today's matches.

However, learning something interesting wasn't what he actually needed. It was all about inspiration. When Ichika just acquired his personal I.S., it had seven bus-slots for equipment. However, five of them were already occupied by One Off ability – **Reiraku Byakuya** , and remaining two were occupied by **Byakushiki** 's only weapon – **Yukihiria Nigata** [Snowflake Mark II]. Probably, very limited number of bus-slots made Ichika to develop a paradigm of shape-shifting weapon in the first place… or maybe it had nothing to do with that. Nevertheless, first shape-shift (i.e. second shape) he developed was twin pistols – **Ebony** and **Ivory** (whose names he took from one of pretty famous franchises). After he implemented this, he assigned new generic name to his weapon, **Ragnarök** , as well as he assigned a name to weapon's real (i.e. first) shape – plasma sword, **Redeemer**.

However, two different shapes were not enough to achieve desired level of tactical flexibility. But, when Ichika began to work on third shape – three-barreled shotgun **Arbiter** , he found out that two bus slots aren't enough to support normal operation of weapon he created. Fortunately, at this time Ichika acquired enough experience with plasma technology, so he upgraded his I.S. power source with addition plasma coils sub-core, busting both power output and increasing quantity of bus slots by one, to total of eight. That allowed him to complete **Arbiter** and, eventually, to add fourth shape to his weapon – plasma sniper rifle, **Ambassador** , which also required three bus-slots.

Then again, when he was working at **Ragnarök** 's fifth shape – heavy plasma machinegun **Equalizer** , he ran into the same problem – three slots were not enough to support such a weapon in fully operational state. But again, at this time Ichika's increased experience with I.S. allowed him to optimize power contours of his unit, thus he once again managed to increase quantity of bus-slots by one. This was one of the reasons why it took so much time to create **Equalizer**.

However, now, when Ichika had four weapon-designated bus slots, he saw another possibility. Two first shapes that were using only two bus-slots, now they could be upgraded or even replaced. First, Ichika decided to replace his twin pistols, however, he suddenly ran into very hard 'author's block'. He didn't want to keep the same names – new weapon deserves its own name. But he couldn't come up with something proper.

Again, it's hard to comprehend how genius' mind works and why such a trifle as lack of proper name could be such an obstacle, but Ichika couldn't even begin his work. Until now. Right now, despite quite late hour he was heading to engendering department, eager to begin his work on new twin weapons, whose names will be **Anguish** and **Despair** …

* * *

And that's it for chapter II. See you soon people!


	7. Realizer

Hello again people! Here I am with seventh chapter. Took a while to write it, but with all these holydays and all…

Now, some talk with those who wrote a **review**.

 **Imperial-samaB, Telron, New Universe Returns, xghosthunter115, King of Plot Bunnies, Zeus795:** Many thanks people, here's an update, sorry that it took almost two months…

 **Guest:** Just wait for next chapter, Ichika himself will explain all about Akatsubaki. And yes, of course Ichika won't even think about sacrificing himself.

 **Cloud Narukami:** I'd call it 'limited harem'.

 **LabMember009Isaac,** that is very possible, yes.

* * *

 **Chapter VII – Realizer**

…

"Sorry for asking you to help me…" Blonde girl with slightly curly hair said.

"Don't worry," Replied a guy who was walking beside her.

Under the red sunset, Ichika and Charlotte were walking together through the corridor. Both of them were carrying the itinerary information for the seaside school that was to be held this month.

"But... is this really alright? You're supposed to go with Cecilia and the rest, right?" Girl asked uncertainly.

"It's alright. It's pointless for me to go if Charlotte's not going," Ichika replied casually.

"Huh?!" Her eyes widened in surprise as she heard unexpected answer.

"Well, how should I say this. Even if it's just giving out pamphlets, I still prefer to do it with the one I like," Saying that, Ichika's face blushed somewhat. That didn't seem to look like the color of the sunset, and that was so unlike Ichika.

"Ichika..."

"Charlotte..."

On the corridor where they were standing on, both of them were looking at each other in the eyes. At this point, silence is golden. In this orange scene, the two shadows overlap…

"Ah?!" Blonde yelped as Ichika suddenly grabbed her by armpits and lifted up as if she weights nothing. Without saying anything he made Charlotte sit on nearest windowsill, and, without any warning, untied ribbon on her neck and began to unbutton her dress. "Ah! Ichika, wait! What are you doing?!"

"I guess it's pretty obvious what am I doing," He replied as that merciless expression glinted in his eyes, "You've got a magnificent body, and I want to explore it."

"No! You can't!" She tried to resist, but resistance was so week that it was obvious that her hands doesn't obey her – seemingly her body desperately wanted to be explored. At this moment, Ichika's right arm slipped under her dress, right into her bra and his fingertips touched Charlotte's left nipple. "AH! Ichika! Stop! Not here! What if someone will see us?!"

"Well, I guess in that case you'll be excited over the limit," He replied casually. "You can tell me whatever you like, but at least don't lie to yourself – you're pervert, and being seen while doing something shameful is your wildest dream…" As he said that he pinched her nipple.

"AH! No! I'm not… Ah?! What?… That's… weird?"

Charlotte looked around to confirm. She had spaced out. She was in her own first-year dorm room in I.S. Academy. It was 6:30 in the morning, July 2nd. While she was still a little drowsy, Charlotte blinked twice, and finally grasped the current situation. Her heart was racing like crazy, images in her conscious were still very bright, but… "It was just a dream..." *Siiiggghhh...* She sighed deeply, so deep that it reached 20,000 feet below sea level, and it was hard to say – was it sigh of relief or sigh of regret. But no matter what, she continued to cling onto to remnants of her dream, obviously she was unwilling to give it up.

 _Orimura Ichika…_ These two words were causing extremely contradictive feelings in Charlotte's head (and chest). That _engeance diabolique!_ [Fr: Devil's spawn] After all that encouraging talking he abandoned her at the most critical moment! Left her alone to a pack of she-wolves, which almost torn her to shreds! And didn't even apologized after that! Right now, Charlotte was pretty sure that she hates him. _'But why then… I keep dreaming about him?!'_

Charlotte's face blushed heavily. As her consciousness started to clear, she began to feel embarrassed about the dream, very embarrassed… She looked down on her breast, covered with nightwear. Despite it was just a dream, she still could feel Ichika's fingers on her nipple. She just couldn't help it – blonde closed her eyes and began to imagine the continuation of her dream. Of course, no one could blame a girl of her age for having sexual fantasies, and her wildest dream was to be caught by some third party people in the middle of intimate intercourse.

"What have you done to me?!" She exclaimed angrily as she turned towards her roommate's bed. Maybe she had that fantasy before she met Ichika, but he definitely was the one who made her imagination run wild. Too bad no one could hear her indignation right now. Ever since the moment she officially went from Charles Dunois to her actual gender and identity of Charlotte Dunois, she was given her own room, and now she was living alone, she didn't get another roommate, either.

That, however, wasn't the only case… Even if she still would be Ichika's roommate, that neighboring bad still would be unoccupied. In fact, that morning, when she disclosed her real identity to everyone, that was the last moment she saw Ichika in person. Of course, after almost hour-long quarrel, the last thing she wanted was to see Ichika, who 'betrayed' her. When she finally arrived to arena to watch some matches (that day was dedicated to 3rd grade students first round), she actually saw Ichika inside VIP lodge, he was sitting beside some man of European appearance, she couldn't see clearly from afar, but he definitely was high ranked military representative, according to uniform. However, Ichika left before all matches were concluded.

And when Charlotte finally gathered her thoughts and came to Ichika to tell him everything she was thinking about him and his actions, she only found his room locked up tight, and no one could tell where he is (she wasn't the only one who came to talk with him).

Next morning, he wasn't attending HRS, and Maya Yamada seemed to be almost as oblivious of his whereabouts as other girls. Only thing she knew that Ichika got some sort of assignment and he won't be attending school until the end of the month. Of course, his elder sister probably knew more, but she was very busy with the tournament, so no one dared to bother her.

But June ended, and interdivision tournament along with it. Starting today, school life should return to normal. Moreover, Orimura sensei herself will conduct today's homeroom session, so even Ichika won't dare to not attend it without good reason. And if he actually has a good reason, at least they can ask Chifuyu about it… maybe.

But there's still almost two hours until HRS, so Charlotte decided that she could sleep a bit more. _'Since it's rare to have a dream, I won't mind having some more erotic content in it… Wha… What am I thinking?!"_ Charlotte covered the top of her head with the blanket, as if trying to hide her rapidly blushing face, and finally calm her crazily beating heart down.

* * *

Class 1-1. Prep bell rang about a minute ago. There are still four minutes until class, but since it was Chifuyu's HRS, almost all students were already here, even Laura Bodewig, who was officially discharged yesterday. She still hadn't recovered completely, but she already could walk without crutches. And, despite official bell hasn't rung yet, the demonic teacher also was already in the classroom. Only few people were still missing – Maya Yamada, Charlotte Dunois, Cecilia Alcott, Shinonono Houki and Orimura Ichika… oh, speak of the devil.

As if nothing happened, Orimura Ichika walked into the classroom. Entire class immediately went silent. "And where have you been?" Chifuyu asked sternly as she turned to her brother. For a moment, someone could assume that she also wasn't aware of where he was for more than a week, but of course that wasn't the case. She just wanted to know why he came so late to her class.

"I've just arrived, wanted to drop my stuff into my room before class," Ichika replied casually. "There is still three minutes until official bell, I'm not late," He added, as he summoned his I.S. timer and showed it to Chifuyu.

*Sigh* She let out a sigh, her brother didn't change a bit – never late, but never comes beforehand either. Still, Chifuyu had no reason to scold him. "Alright, take your seat…" She nodded towards Ichika's desk, but before he could make a step she asked again, "By the way, you didn't forget, did you?" Her tone changed a bit – definitely that was something personal.

"Sensei, my memory is perfect," Ichika replied, as he narrowed his eyes a bit, as if such a question was insulting, "The piece from latest Andrés Sardá collection, I chose specifi…" Ichika couldn't finish his self-praising sentence as Charlotte Dunois literally flew into the classroom. She used a partial deployment of her personal I.S., the **Raphael Revive Custom II** , which was basically materializing the parts on the legs, to allow thrust, and on the back, to allow flight. Also, she deployed her arms, so she was able to carry passengers, which were Houki and Cecilia.

"Fiew! We made it…" Charlotte exclaimed with relief, but that was before she realized in front of who she's standing. The homeroom teacher of class 1-1, Orimura Chifuyu, Ichika's elder sister and the ex-representative of Japan in the I.S. global tournament. She was also a winner of the overall and close ranged categories in the first tournament, and she's a teacher who's still as strong as a demon even without any equipment. Ichika glanced at Charlotte's face, and this was the first time he saw her face turn blue like that, she wasn't that scared when he left her alone to deal with angry classmates.

"Oh? It's been tough on you," Chifuyu said with that smile that could freeze an erupting volcano. As much as Ichika could assume – they were sitting in cafeteria, most likely discussing him, and lost the track of time, so Charlotte decided to use her I.S. for a shortcut to not be late. "This school is established as an institute to develop I.S. pilots, so this place isn't affiliated to any other country or is it affected by external powers... however…" *BAM!* The attack of the attendance book sounded as loud as ever. "You are not allowed to deploy I.S. without official permission, even if you're in school. Do you understand me?"

"Ye…Yes... I'm sorry..." Charlotte mumbled, she was almost crying. Cecilia and Houki were standing beside French girl, staring into the floor.

To think that the honor student Charlotte would actually do something that would break the rules. This seems to have left quite the impression on the other classmates as everyone just remained dumbstruck. On a side note, Ichika retreated to his seat, he had nothing to do with that situation.

"Dunois, Alcott, Shinonono, after school, stay behind to clean the classroom. If there's a second time, I'll make all three of you write a letter of reflection and live in the special classroom, am I clear?" Black panther and three cornered roedeers, here we go again.

"Yes..." All three headed to their seats with dejected mood. Being scolded by the devil, tough luck. However, that what just happened to Charlotte and others distracted that morbid attention of entire class, which was directed at Ichika. That is understandable though, in the end, he simply disappeared, without explaining anything to anyone, for more than a week. Still, there are no doubts – Charlotte, Houki and Cecilia have a lot of things to say about it, and Rin as well, she just couldn't dare to visit class 1-1 while Chifuyu was there.

Ignoring the occasion, the bell rung, and HRS started.

"We'll be having an ordinary lesson today. Though all of you are I.S. Academy students, you are all still High School students. Don't fail!" Homeroom teacher declared. That's right. Though there was less lesson time, I.S. Academy students still have to learn ordinary subjects, like mathematic, history, etc. These subjects aren't tested in mid-term, but they are tested at the end of the term. If student fails, she will have to spend the entire summer vacation in remedials, and that's the only outcome every girl wants to avoid at all costs.

"Also, from next week onwards, it will be the special school trip practical lesson time. Everyone is reminded not to forget your items. We will be leaving school for 3 days, so remember not to play too much during your free time," Sensei added.

Yeah, that's right, the special school trip – practical lesson time in early July, the seaside school that will last 3 days. The first day is basically free and easy. Of course, because entire 1st grade is going to the seaside, these girls in their youth of teenage years were already excited since last week. Ichika, by the way, had different opinion about that trip.

"Then, that'll be the end of HRS. Everyone's to study seriously today," Chifuyu instructed.

"Excuse me, Orimura-sensei. Is Yamada-sensei on leave?" The good student in class, Tagatsuki Shizune raised an obvious question. To be honest, Ichika had no idea how this girl could use that information, as he couldn't care less where Maya Yamada is – either she just overslept or got bothered by something else, that's none of his busyness.

"Yamada-sensei went ahead to check the place for our field trip, so she won't be here today. Thus, I'm taking over Yamada-sensei's duties for today," Chifuyu answered the question emotionlessly.

"Huuh, Yama-chan went to the seaside already? That's so cool~!"

"That's sneaky! She should have brought me along!"

"Ah~ Is she swimming? She must be swimming~!"

As expected of the girls in their teenage years. Once there's something, they can make a ruckus out of it. Chifuyu found it irritating as she heightened her voice, "Ahh, stop making a big commotion out of everything, it's irritating! Yamada-sensei went to work, not to play!"

"Yes!" The girls in class answered in unison. Such amazing teamwork…

"Now, prepare for the next lesson," She ordered, "Those of you who already passed the final exams may be free."

Unlike Chifuyu's previous phrase (about Maya's whereabouts), that what she said right now didn't cause a ruckus. In contrary, class became dead-silent for a few moments. Since she said that… does it mean that someone already passed the finals?! High school _final exams_?! Chifuyu didn't care as she already opened the classroom's door with intention to leave. As if giving a hint on who might be the one who passed finals, Ichika stood up from his seat and followed his sister, with obvious intention to leave as well.

And just as class was ready to explode with squeals (i.e. discussion about Ichika, his sudden return, speculations about where he was, and news about that he already passed finals), Ichika's voice sounded in corridor. "Sensei, about that field trip, I really thi…"

"No," Deep voice of his sister interrupted him. "You're going. You may complain to whoever you want – principal, even minister of defense, you're personal I.S. owner and that's your duty to participate in practical lessons, and you will be participating, you can take my word on that, young man." Leaving no place for objections, Chifuyu left, as knock of her high heels could be heard throughout corridor. But that wasn't all…

BOOM! Entire class flinched as Ichika (seemingly) smashed his fist into the wall. "So, you wish to waste my time that badly? I hope you won't regret this…" Ichika complained aloud as his recessive footsteps could be heard. Completely addled, class finally exploded with ruckus.

* * *

Same day, 7 PM. Charlotte, Cecilia and Houki just finished the class cleaning. In the meantime, Rin somehow managed to find out that, despite all arenas officially were closed for reconstruction after tournament, Ichika secured the right to use 5th arena this evening. 5th arena was used only for semi-final and final matches, so it was much less damaged than others, but still.

In any case, all four girls now were heading to aforementioned arena. Yes, Charlotte included. Of course, right after she disclosed her true identity she was blamed with all mortal sins, but after almost an hour of quarrelling, other girls realized that she's the same 'victim' of 'one-sided love' as they are, so, word after word, she was accepted into the 'club' of Ichika's wanna-be-girlfriends.

As they were walking through arena's preparation room, they suddenly heard several explosions in rapid succession. That whistling sound of supersonic blastwaves couldn't be mistaken – it was Ichika's plasma weaponry. Girls hastened their steps.

As they came out from hangar doors, they saw Ichika, with his I.S. deployed, in the middle of the field, holding two weapons that girls never saw before, he was shooting at holographic targets. Those two guns could be roughly described as assault rifles with bullpup composition, but, like other Ichika's weapons they had that explicit robotic design, with aggressive angular shapes and glowing, half-transparent parts.

"Oh, you're ahead of schedule," Ichika said as he noticed four girls heading his way. All four girls were 'wearing' displeased and/or angry face expressions, but that was understandable – right now, in girls' eyes, he was most horrible sinner in the world. He just vanished, without saying a word to any of them, for almost a week. Because of him Cecilia, Houki and Charlotte were scolded by his devilish sister this morning (they were late because they lost the track of time discussing his absence), and now that situation with final exams. And again, he said nothing, just left the classroom! And what was that arguing about him not willing to go to seaside training camp?!

But four angry and displeased girls were not enough to break Ichika's attitude. As they were approaching, he continued to do what he was doing, as he shot another burst from both rifles.

"Ichika!" Houki decided to take initiative, "Don't you want to tell us something?!"

"Not really," Ichika replied indifferently. *Sigh* "But alright," He sighed, "If you want to know something specific, you can ask." Seemingly, he decided that it will be much faster to simply give them what they want and then continue his work.

"Where you been?!" Rin demanded an answer.

"Yes, and how could you just leave without telling us anything?!" Cecilia also couldn't stay silent.

"I was in California," Ichika replied simply.

"Where?!" All four asked in unison, but Ichika was pretty sure that they heard him quite well, so he just continued:

"There was a joint military exercise with US Navy. As you know, despite development of I.S. turned military doctrines of most countries upside down, due to limited amount of I.S. units, governments still have to keep their conventional military departments, just in case. As personal I.S. owner and naval officer, I got a special invitation to participate, you probably saw me talking to US admiral just before I left," Ichika explained, at the same time adjusting one of his twin plasma assault rifle. "And since exercises already begun, I had to leave in hurry, though, you should've guessed that my sister should be aware about my whereabouts, you just could ask her. Or now not only Rin but all of you are enveloped with that primordial fear of Chifuyu?"

In reply, he only heard some indecipherable bubbling, so Ichika continued to explain, "However, it appeared that I.S. role was just an observation, and for one day only, the rest of the time I only had to participate in morning and evening conferences. In the matter of fact, all that assignment actually was a week-long waste of time, which I couldn't avoid, because such time-wasting events is the shortest way to promotion… damn bureaucrats…" Ichika said scornfully. "Anyway, to make that 'assignment' not a complete waste of time, I used my free time to pass Academy's final exams in absentia, so to speak, excluding I.S. related disciplines."

Girls took few minutes to stomach that flow of information. "Wait, you just… just decided to pass final exams and did it, just like that?" Houki finally asked, she sounded like she just couldn't believe. Other girls were looking at Ichika with pretty weird face expressions.

"And why are you sound so surprised," Ichika asked, as if that question was offensive, though, he of course wasn't offended at all. "I could pass middle school, high school and university final exams while I was in elementary school… I could write a doctoral dissertation like… eight years ago. I simply chose to not to. Back then, attending those lessons wasn't an issue – I could do whatever I like during those days, without too much of unneeded attention. But situation has changed when it appeared that I can pilot I.S. – I got access to pretty vast amount of resources, both scientific and engineering, so now attending those useless lessons became a time waste, there are much more important things to do. And since principal insisted that we should maintain formalities, I did just that," Ichika explained. Of course, in fact it only took about 20 minutes, and Ichika got 100/100 everywhere.

Girls were staring at Ichika as if all four of them lapsed into idiocy. No, everyone knew that Ichika is genius, and none of them ever doubted that, with all that advanced plasma weaponry and all, but seemingly only now, when it was applied to some trivial and socially recognizable thing as school exams, they began to comprehend the meaning of this. Houki suddenly felt some emptiness in her chest… She was well familiar with that feeling – hopeless inferiority, the same she felt when her own elder sister, Tabane, was around. She was just like Ichika, she could write a doctoral dissertation when she was seven years old, and she also was fooling around, attending school together with Chifuyu. Only difference was that Tabane was always gaining a lot of attention…

Other three girls had approximately the same feelings, let alone irritation about elder sister, which none of them had.. That guy, he just woke up and decided – 'I think I have to pass final exams', as if it was a fleeting whim, like 'I'll drink red tea instead of black this morning'.

"Is that all?" Ichika broke the silence, "If so, I'd like to continue testing, by the way, this is **Anguish** …" He nodded at rifle with Ivory-white frame "…and **Despair** …" He nodded at rifle with carbon-black frame, "My new twin weapons, which I made in replacement for my twin pistols." Rifles have higher accuracy, plasma charges energy and velocity, and much higher rate of fire.

Needless to say – girls lost their momentum. They came here angry, with intention to sort things out, but now they were confused and depressed. "Ichika-san…" Seemingly, only Cecilia was still in mood to ask anything, "…what was that arguing this morning about training camp?"

Ichika sighed, "Don't worry about that. I don't know what exactly she's trying to achieve, dragging me into this, but sometimes my sister can be a real pain in the ass. I will be participating in that 'seaside training camp', those three days just not worthy enough to fight over. Now, if you excuse me…" Ichika raised his weapons as new set of holographic targets appeared in the air.

* * *

July 3rd, 1:58 AM

About 2 AM. Ichika woke up. He had very keen sense of danger, which immediately woke him up, because someone 'infiltrated' his room. Light of half-developed moon, together with Ichika's eyes special ability was more than enough to distinguish the 'infiltrator'. Those long silver hair… eyes of different color – one red and one golden… petite but cute body like of a french doll… no doubts, it's Laura Bodewig.

Ichika grabbed his laser pistol, which he always kept beneath his pillow, after his abduction he developed that 'healthy paranoia'. By the way, that was the very same pistol that Tabane presented to him almost twelve years ago. Of course, it was heavily redesigned and upgraded, but still… And now Ichika held it in his left hand, because, well, last time he saw Laura he crippled her and tried to kill, so now he couldn't be sure about her intentions… besides, despite late hour she was dressed into her I.S. academy uniform. However…

Silver haired girl silently walked through anteroom, and approached the unoccupied bed. And then she began to do something that even Ichika couldn't expect. She sat on bed and took off her boots and socks. Untied her blue ribbon, and then took of her shirt. Then, as if her previous actions weren't weird enough, she took of her pants and proceed to her underwear. By the way, she was taking off her clothes remarkably quickly, in one minute all her clothes, underwear included, were neatly placed on bed. Only thing she was still wearing was the black leg band on her right thigh – her I.S. in standby mode.

Ichika was no longer clenching to his gun, he even closed his eyes, continuing to pretend that he's sleeping. Laura could be weird, but probably even she won't undress just to pick a fight. Besides, the one doesn't need eyes at all to know what happened, as someone took away his blanket, and at the next moment someone small, cute and completely naked was lying beside Ichika on his bed.

Good thing was that, among many common traits, Orimura siblings weren't sharing the habit to sleep naked. Unlike his sister, who only could sleep peacefully when completely undressed, Ichika prefers to sleep wearing flannelette pajamas. Still, situation was weird enough already. Ichika felt that two small and unexpectedly gentle hands grabbed his right arm as Laura pressed it to herself. Through sleeve of his nightwear Ichika could feel her breasts. They weren't big, but still bigger than Rin's (certain B-size), and pretty soft.

Honestly, confusing Ichika wasn't an easy task, but Laura managed to do so. After their first meeting, after all Laura's proclamations, after that what transpired between them on arena Ichika could expect anything but that. Few minutes have passed. Since Laura was holding to Ichika's right, artificial arm, he couldn't feel her heart beating, but he could feel movements of her chest – her breathing became slower and steady – she fell asleep.

 _'And what is that supposed to mean?'_ Ichika asked himself. Honestly, he had pretty good understanding about what's going on in girls' heads, but this one was a bit more complicated case. However, right now Laura seemingly wasn't presenting any danger, and Ichika had nothing against naked girl in his bed, so he decided just to let her be, they can sort thing out at morning… besides, he has to get used to sleep with girls in the same bed, so he may as well start now.

* * *

*Chirp* *Chirp*

The sun that frantically tried to enter the room passed through the window, and the chirping of the sparrows seemed like they were prompting the room's inhabitants to get up. _'It's soft… Soft and squishy… Huh? What's this feeling? Do I have something smooth in my bed?... Ah, yes… Laura…_ ' Ichika remembered the weird event, which transpired in his room in the middle of the night. She seemingly was still sleeping.

He looked at his I.S. clock. 7:34 AM. All I.S.-related lessons today will be afternoon, so Ichika had no reason to wake up early, he had his own plans for this noon. However, unlike him, Laura has to attend conventional lessons, so it's probably the time to wake her up, he still needs to know what's the meaning of all this.

Ichika flipped the blanket off, and what appears in front of him was Laura Bodewig, the German representative. As expected, nothing changed since night – she was still completely naked, the flowing silver hair was scattered down her waist.

"Mn... what...? It's already morning...?" Seemingly, being suddenly exposed to slightly cool morning air woke her up (Ichika's window was open).

"Yes," Ichika replied shortly, indifferently looking at naked girl in front of him. "But we can discuss morning's weather later. What I really want to talk about is your reason to be in my bed, without clothes."

"You're asking such weird things. I heard that spouses should sleep in the same bed, and they have nothing to hide from each other," She answered as if it was quite obvious. "I heard that this manner of waking people up is very common in Japan, isn't it? It's said that engaged couples do this," She added, stretching her limbs.

Well, putting aside the fact that she definitely was gravely misinformed, Ichika still was quite surprised. _'Okay… I was pretty rough with her, yet I'm sure I didn't hit her head even once… Ah, wait… It's most likely onee-san's fault – she was training her for a year, I'm pretty sure – that poor girl got her share of head strikes…"_ Ichika thought _"…and, probably, a share of onee-san's social misbehavior…'_ He looked at Laura again, "'Spouses?'"

"Yes," Laura nodded confidently. She was sitting on bed on her knees, with her thighs spread quite wide and her back straight, and she made no attempts to cover herself at all. "Bas… Basically, didn't you say that..."

 _'What what?'_ Ichika once again was surprised a bit, _'No, my memory's absolute, I'm pretty sure I haven't told her anything like that…'_

"You told me to do anything as I want, but now... well, I want you..." She said honestly.

 _'Chifuyu… this is all your fault… what have you done to this poor girl?'_ Ichika sighed.

"What's wrong... ah, stop staring at me like that! I'll get really embarrassed," She said, even blushing a little, but again, she made no attempts to cover herself.

"No, you won't," Ichika shook his head. "Anyway, now you are naked and in my bed, so what?" However, Ichika got no chance to get the answer.

*Knock* *knock*.

"I-Ichika, are you in there? It's a rare chance, so how about we go out for breakfast?" Houki's voice sounded from outside the room.

 _'Oh, come on…'_ Ichika thought in frustration, _'So out of time…'_ Naturally, you don't need the ability to see future to imagine what's going to happen within next few minutes.

"Ichika? Are you still sleeping? I know that you don't need to attend morning lessons, but you'll miss breakfast if you don't wake up," Houki's voice again could be heard from outside. *Clank* Door's lock clanked.

"No, Houki, wait, don't come in!" Ichika tried to warn her.

"But door isn't locked. Why shouldn't I come in…" Houki's expression, movements and her entire body froze. As she pushed the door open and walked in, she saw a thoroughly naked Laura, sitting in front of Ichika on his bed.

"Because if you wouldn't come in, we could avoid an idiotic scene that's is going to happen now…" Ichika sighed, perfectly knowing that it's too late…

As Houki understood what's she actually seeing, she finally lost it. "ICHIKA! WH-WHA-WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU BASTARD!" Probably it was just a bad coincidence, but recently Houki received a 370 years old katana, her family's relic, and since then she developed a habit to carry it with herself everywhere. *Shooh!* She drew out the aforementioned sword in one go, that was the result of training everyday, but to Ichika, who's being pointed at, this didn't seem like a joke.

"Houki, I'm warning you, no sudden moves," Ichika tried to warn her, but of course his warning fell on deaf ears.

"SHUT UP! HUMPH, JUST LET ME SLICE YOU UP! YOU'RE AN IDIOT! YOU BIG MORON!" Her instincts got better of her. Being unreasonable, Houki raised the blade above her head, getting into a position where she's about to slice Ichika's head in half. Unquestionably, that blade that's reflecting pure light is as serious as ever. If she'll hit him, it won't be just a light injury, "YOU-YOU-YOU BETTER ACCEPT PUNISHMENT NOW!"

*Clash!* Suddenly, lightning struck Houki's blade. Powerful electric discharge knocked sword out of her arms, scorching her palms. As if that event wasn't shocking (in all ways) enough, the most shocking thing was that lightning shot from Ichika's right palm. Metallic hexagonal emitters could be seen on Ichika's fingertips, thought they were quickly 'sucked' back into fingers and covered with 'skin'.

That 'event' put Houki's senses back in order. After all, she never saw people shooting lightning from their hands, aside from those famous movies, which Houki never watched. She instinctively made a step back. "Ah, so it seems that pain and fear are stronger than love and jealousy, after all," Ichika smiled, as Houki was looking at her scorched palms, and that was clearly a sadistic smile. "Though, that idiotic fight over 'my love' is becoming less and less amusing anyway." As he said that, Ichika abruptly jumped from his bed towards Houki, and in the next moment his right palm touched Houki's forehead. That happened within less than a second, shocked girl never had a chance to do anything. And the moment Ichika touched Houki's head, her sight became defocused, face expression became thoughtless, and she stood, staring into empty space.

"You've scorched your palms while cooking, and now you are heading to medical room to get treatment," Ichika said, looking straight into Houki's eyes. "Go," He added, removing his palm from Houki's head. Without saying anything, Houki obediently turned around and walked out of Ichika's room, her eyes still were empty and her movements were somehow mechanical.

"Oh Houki," Ichika sighed as he picked up her family's sword, "She always was so passionate, but never could direct her passion into right direction, sorry for tautology…"

"What just happened?!" Laura asked, since the moment Ichika shot lightning at Houki, she was watching with her mouth wide open, still sitting on Ichika's bed, naked.

"Ah, that… During that incident, because of which Chifuyu became your 'personal instructor', I lost my arm," Ichika raised his right arm, as if to demonstrate, "But I honestly have no regrets about that. This one is artificial, which I constructed myself, and it's much better than the one I've lost. Stronger, almost indestructible, and it has two built-in devices, the **electro-matrix** emitters, which allows me to project electrical charges, and – my special pride – the device called ' **realizer** '. It can bleach one's mind, allowing me to fill the resulting gap with information of my choice… I'll show you…"

As Laura saw Ichika's smile, she understood that she's going to get the same treatment as Houki. Being well-trained soldier, Laura tried to escape, but escaping someone who can see future wasn't an easy task, besides, since she was naked her every muscle was observable, which allowed Ichika to predict her moves very precise. "No, let me go!" Laura screamed (and that scream sounded surprisingly girlish), but as Ichika caught her, she immediately remembered her martial arts spars with Chifuyu – when you're in her hold – there's no chance to break free from those steel claws. Right now it felt the same, the only difference was that 'steel claws' wasn't a metaphor. Though, Laura didn't get the chance to compare siblings' strength as Ichika's right palm touched her head and her mind turned off.

"Shhh… It's all right," Ichika softly whispered on Laura's ear. Just as it was with Houki, her sight became defocused, face expression became thoughtless, and she was senselessly staring into space. Ichika made Laura to lie on his bed, of course she didn't resist – her limbs were as of a rag-doll. "And what shall I do with you?" Ichika asked himself. He removed glove from his left hand, which was very rare occasion, since actually that glove was his I.S. in stand-by mode, yet… Probably the only setback of his artificial hand was that it couldn't feel anything, and usually it wasn't an issue at all, but right now he wanted to 'feel'…

Ichika placed his left palm on Laura's stomach. No matter what was in her past – physically she was a teenage girl in her youth – her skin was soft, gentle, warm… and very sensitive. Even though her mind was bleached by realizer, her body trembled a little. Ichika's palm slipped down along her body, and his fingertips touched her labia. "Ah…" Girl let out a weak moan.

"Incredible…" Ichika noted to himself. "Even though she's under realizer's effect… Then maybe we really should do that… and much more than that, when you'll be conscious…" Ichika removed his hand and put his glove back on. "But first thing first," He said, as Ichika covered Laura with blanked, and then snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Oh…" Laura blinked. "Mn... what...? It's already morning...?" She looked at Ichika, who stood near her. Ichika's realizer wiped her memories, she forgot everything that transpired since she woke up about half an hour ago. For her it looked like she just woke up. After that, all what Ichika had to do is to play innocent, and he was very good at that…

* * *

As Laura rushed to cafeteria (Ichika allowed her to use his shower room), Ichika was alone again. He thoughtfully looked at his right arm, where his realizer was hidden. "Damn, stupid mollies…" Ichika swore. "Because of them I've used realizer three times within two weeks. If things continue to go that way, Chifuyu definitely become suspicious..." That was pretty serious – young girls losing their memories out of blue, and all those girls are connected to Ichika somehow.

Unlike all his other technologies, Ichika never bragged about it, in contrary – he kept it hidden, even form his sister… no, especially from his sister, he had a feeling that Chifuyu won't approve the existence of device, which is capable to brainwash and indoctrinate people.

In fact, the very development of this device was abnormal case, because it was created solely by Ichika, from nothing, despite he never was good at creating new stuff. His specialty was improving devices and ideas, created by others, yet, realizer was his own invention. Origins of this device are unknown…

Realizer allows Ichika to manipulate other person's mind, to certain extent. At its current state of development, realizer is able to wipe recent memories (about an hour, at maximum), and then fill that memory gap with (pretty basic) information. Secondary function allows Ichika to program a certain course of actions directly into person's subconscious. But of course, there are lot of limitations too, at least for now. Actions that contradict person's very nature won't be executed – for example, Ichika can't grab a random person and turn him or her into terrorist. For now, it only can amplify one's suppressed and/or hidden desires…

* * *

July 8th, 8:03 AM.

Sunday. As usual, Ichika was spending the weekend in his and Chifuyu's house. However, right now Ichika was at train station, waiting for certain girl to arrive. Fact was, Chifuyu suddenly asked him to 'show the city' to her former trainee. Moreover, it wasn't sensei's order, but rather elder sister's request, which made refusal much harder. He could invent thousands of reasons, and 'hide' behind dozens of authority figures to avoid sensei's order, but saying 'no' to personal request of his beloved sister… In the end, Ichika decided that he can spend a couple of hours for Chifuyu's sake, though he couldn't understand the reason behind that request. Either Chifuyu was more affected to her former pupil… or that could be sister's prank as a revenge for almost seven years of Ichika's attempts to find a boyfriend for his sister…

In any case, train that's traveling back and forth between I.S. Academy and mainland has arrived. There were quite few passengers, so even without special eyes Ichika could easily spot silver-haired girl, dressed into pretty cute, short black dress with white frills (proving that Ichika's assumption that Laura most likely has no casual clothes at all was right, since he could swear that she already saw that dress somewhere…) _'Alright, quicker we do this, quicker I can get back to my own affairs,'_ Ichika decided, as he headed straight to German student.

"Ichika-san," Laura bowed slightly. Unlike Houki, Rin, Cecilia, Charlotte, and other girls who wanted to be Ichika's girlfriend, she possessed some amount of self-confidence, she could look into ichika's eyes longer than two seconds, for example.

"Fräulein Bodewig," Ichika greeted her, "You're looking good today." There were simple, formal words, but for some reason Laura blushed a little. Strange girl, during last week she appeared naked before Ichika several times, usually waiting for him in shower room when he was returning to his room after his practice and/or work in engineering. Ichika thought that this is amusing (and he didn't mind pretty, naked girl), and Laura didn't seem embarrassed, exposing herself to a guy. But now, when Ichika commented her looks, she blushed…

"Shall we?" He asked, offering his hand for Laura to take. And again… she wouldn't mind to sleep naked in Ichika's bed, but hesitated before taking his hand, and she blushed more. Still, now they began to walk towards downtown, and Ichika was holding small, gentle and warm girl's hand… too bad he couldn't feel any of that with his artificial hand.

* * *

Two figures were hidden in the shadows, noticing Ichika and Laura walking away from the station. As both of them passed the crossing with the green light on and disappeared into the crowd, those two figures used the opportunity to appear from the tress. One of them had a pair of lively ponytails, and the other one had elegant blond hair. In other words, they were Rin and Cecilia.

"...I say."

"...What is it?"

"...Well, does they are holding hands now?"

"...They are."

Even if they asked 100 people, they would get 100 same answers. Cecilia let out a spastic smile as she holds onto the PET bottle. *PACK!* The bottlecap flew up!

"Is that so? That happened, right. I didn't see it wrongly, and I wasn't daydreaming. So that happened… alright, let's kill him," Rin clenched her fist, and the I.S. was partially deployed on it as she got ready to battle. There were about 2 seconds before the Impact Cannons will be fireing. Girls' naive feelings can be that terrifying.

"What are you two doing?!" The voice of the person behind them caught Rin and Cecilia off guard.

Standing over there was another 'rival in love', the one who managed to get closer to Ichika than all others (at least in other girls' opinion) – Charlotte Dunois.

"KYAH! When… why did you appear here?!" Rin frantically asked, quickly undeploying her I.S.

"What you mean?" Charlotte asked a bit surprised, "It's Sunday, tomorrow we're going to seaside camp!" Obviously that girl was here for shopping. On a side note, with her timely arrival Charlotte probably saved Rin as of course Ichika noticed both her and Cecilia, and if Rin would actually have shot, she wouldn't hit him but certainly would earn a severe punishment.

By the way, Rin and Cecilia actually arrived on the same train as Laura; when they noticed a girl who defeated them in 2vs1 battle, heading somewhere, wearing pretty cute casual clothes, they decided to follow her.

"So, you weren't here for Ichika?" Cecilia asked, looking at Charlotte with suspicious.

"What!? No!" Charlotte replied louder than needed, blushing slightly. "In fact, I asked Ichika… but he said he's busy…" Girl admitted with sigh. Actually, both Cecilia and Rin also asked Ichika, but they got the same reply.

"That's because we're here!" Rin hissed. "He's here with Laura! Look!" She pointed at girl and a guy, which were already quite afar.

"Oh…" Charlotte's eyes suddenly got quite dark expression, so uncharacteristic for her, "So that's how it is…"

"Yes, and if you want to fight against an unknown enemy, we have to collect information first, right?!" Chinse girl exclaimed.

"So, we should tail them from behind and observe what state they're in, c'mon, they're getting away!" Cecilia urged others.

"I see. Let's do it," Charlotte didn't hesitate to agree.

Thus, under ridiculous reasons, they became the mysterious three stalkers.

* * *

Ignoring three 'followers', Ichika lead Laura for a short trip through city's key points. And, of course, she also noticed the three.

The I.S. Core Network is a unique network that links I.S. units together. I.S. was developed for space exploration, so even if they are a galaxy apart, they can accurately detect each other's position, so the network had the specialty of identifying each other's location.

Of course, to accurately detect each other's location, they have to get authorization. But even without it, one can tell roughly where they are. However, if one wants to avoid being detected by the Core Network, they can use what's called a stealth mode.

All three were using stealth mode, it was impossible to detect where they are. In other words, they're 'at a place where they don't want to let other people know where they are'. Still, Ichika possess Emperor's eye, it has nothing to do with I.S. Core Network. As for Laura… well, she also could tell that three certain I.S. users were 'following her from behind', her military training wasn't just for vainglory. Even as experienced pilot as Charlotte Dunois couldn't hide her presence. But, seemingly, three followers didn't bother Laura at all.

* * *

As Chifuyu asked – Ichika took Laura to several places in city that he considered most interesting and/or useful to a girl, who is going to live here for the next three years. On a side note – Laura wasn't too interesting companion, but Ichika wouldn't call her boring or annoying, either. Considering her very special upbringing and education, that wasn't bad at all. After he beat some sense into her (literally) she appeared to be quite nice…

Ichika and Laura returned to train station. "Now, if you need to buy something for our so-called 'training camp', I'd suggest to stop here," Ichika said as he and Laura were standing in front of shopping center 'Resonance' that links the station and the surrounding underground streets. It also has all sorts of restaurants, whether it's European, Chinese, or Japanese. The shops selling clothes have all sorts of top class international brands. Also, there're all sorts of entertainment facilities for all ages. It's been described as 'if you can't find it here, you can't possibly find it anywhere else'. It's that simple, or rather, it's extremely glamorous.

"Since we're here, I need to buy a few things before we depart," Ichika said. "You can buy everything you need here, and if you don't need anything, just look around here for a while," He suggested. As Ichika let his hand go, Laura gave him a strange look as if she missed it, but she didn't say anything, just nodded as Ichika headed away.

* * *

20 minutes later. Ichika bought all he needed (he had no bags though, just ordered delivery), and now he was heading back to meet Laura. When he was passing by the female swimsuit area, Ichika stopped for a moment and examined the assortment. For some reason, he nodded to himself with satisfaction.

"Over there," Unfamiliar female's voice called for someone. Ichika ignored it. "I'm calling you, man! Arrange the swimsuits here!" Now it was obvious that some woman who Ichika never saw before suddenly was talking to him.

Yes, that was it. Ten years after the introduction of I.S, the female superiority quickly spread throughout the world, and every country now treats women better. When guys walk down the streets, they may be ordered to do something by someone they don't know. But…

Ichika slowly turned around and looked at that woman. "Get lost. Vanish. Disappear…" Ichika had his own idea of how he should threat who.

"Oh, do you want to say that? It seems that you don't really understand your own circumstances," Arrogant smirk appeared on her face. After that, the female customer was intending to call the guards. Right now, this is a women superiority society, so if she says something like 'he suddenly exerted violence on me', Ichika will be deemed as guilty by default. That's how society is right now… Well, it would be like that if Ichika would'we been a common man.

His eyes bursted into hellish flame, as he smiled with smile that could freeze over the hell itself. Within a split second he used his emperor eyes to make sure he's out of security cameras field of view, and in the next moment he was holding that woman's had with his right palm. "Listen carefully, you trash, I clearly understand my circumstances. I could wipe this trade center's floor with you and still walk away without any penalty. But that's not interesting, right? Just wait a bit, you will **realize** what is interesting…"

* * *

 _'Stupid bitch, she made me to waste my time on her either way,'_ Ichika was thinking, walking quickly towards the place where he was intending to meet Laura, he didn't want to be late. Though, he was almost there.

"Ichika," Another female's voice called for him, and this voice Ichika would recognized even in Antarctica – Chifuyu. Ichika stopped and turned towards approaching elder sister. She was accompanied by Maya Yamada.

"Good morning, Ichika-san," Green haired sensei greeted him.

"You people should come out and say hello too, right?" Chifuyu asked, seemingly addressing the concrete pillar.

Some sort of a 'gulp' could be heard from behind it. And then, three people appeared from behind the pillar. They were Rin, Cecilia and Charlotte.

"We… We were intending to come out…" Rin mumbled.

"Tha… That's right! We were waiting for the right time!" Cecilia tried to keep her 'lady' demeanor.

Charlotte didn't say anything, she just came out, looking into the floor. Being pretty angered initially, while 'stalking' she came to realize that they're actually doing quite a shameful thing…

"You three have nothing better to do? I wonder?" Ichika looked at three with somehow scornful sight.

"Girls don't want guys to know their shopping plans!"

"Tha-That's right! Really, Ichika really has got so much nerve that it's mindboggling."

"For real? So tell me – your shopping plans include military-grade binoculars?" He wondered. "Or you just want your nicknames back? Am I right, Hetare Ichigō, Hetare Nigō, Hetare Sangō?" [Loser №1, Cecilia; Loser №2, Rin; Loser №3, Charlotte]

"What?! No! We just… I…" Charlotte stuttered as she was horrified be the perspective to be called like that during summer field trip. Cecilia and Rin's faces went red immediately.

"Make your purchases and go back to academy," Chifuyu seemingly decided to cease this pointless blather. By the way, Ichika's elder sister had no bags, seemingly she was just accompanying Maya while she was making her final preparations.

"Ah, ah… I got something I forgot to buy! I'll go buy it! Umm, I don't know where it is. Rin-san, Alcott-san, please follow me! Dunois-san too!" All of a sudden, Maya exclaimed, and then headed away, dragging the three girls away without allowing any protests.

With that, only Chifuyu and Ichika were there.

"...Really, Yamada-sensei's way too sensitive," Elder sister sighed.

"That's not how I'd put it," Ichika shook his head.

"Oh, well… anyway, it's meaningless to say such words now. Ichika, where's Laura?" Chifuyu asked.

"Should be here somewhere, we agreed to meet here again, just about now," Ichika explained.

"So, what do you think of her? I know, she's really a problematic kid, but she's an empathetic one. She looks good as well," Elder sister said.

 _'Ah, so you finally decided that two can play this matchmaking game? Very well, I'm not going to lose…'_ This thought flashed through Ichika's mind. He was right about Chifuyu's intentions after all… "Well, she's quite unusual, and very pretty, but that's to be expected, considering her special upbringing. Also, she looks cute in that dress she's wearing now, though that dress suspiciously looks like one that Tabane's mother bought for you when you were in 2nd class of middle school…"

 _'Oh, drat you and your perfect memory…'_ Chifuyu thought, thought her face reflected no emotions.

At this moment, all of a sudden, completely naked woman ran pass Ichika and his sister, with two guards chasing her. They ultimately failed, however, as woman made it to the floor's central hall and jumped into fountain. Some people seemed embarrassed, but many other quickly took out their phones and began to shoot video. When guards finally caught her, she seemed confused and disoriented, despite that few seconds ago she seemed completely determined to make it to the fountain.

Yes, that was the very same woman, who tried to give order to Ichika. And crazy and shameful deed that she committed right now was her punishment. She was an arrogant bitch, but her life was trivial and boring, so even despite realizer's current limitations, making her to do something idiotic was quite possible.

"Now that was fun…" Ichika snorted, looking as indifferent as possible. There was already enough of strange things going on around him – last thing he would want is Chifuyu suspicions that he somehow connected to that what just happened… Luckily, elder sister didn't seem to be interested in this matter at all.

* * *

Laura didn't find hanging around the trade center to be interesting occupation, so in the end she just decided to wait for Ichika's return. Accidentally, the appointed place was near the swimsuit area. _'Hmm… Speaking of which, I don't have a swimsuit myself…'_ Laura thought, as her sight accidentally fell on aforementioned merchandise. _'But it doesn't matter anyway. I can just wear the normal school swimsuit,'_ Laura thought.

On a side note, the I.S. Academy designated swimsuits were of the endangered species, the sporty navy blue piece of art, the school one-piece swimsuit. There was even a nametag on it. While standing there, Laura already could hear two familiar voices that belong to Orimura siblings, but she decided to not interfere, continuing to look at swimsuits. _'Doesn't matter anyway. If I can swim, I just need to wear something right? That swimsuit's functionality's rather good, so there's no need to find a replacement.'_ Thinking about this, Laura stared at the swimsuits lined together with icy cold eyes, but at the next moment, her white skin immediately became red.

"…she's quite unusual, and very pretty…"

Because of Ichika's voice, of what he said, she suddenly turned around. Laura knows that he and Chifuyu were talking to each other, but, as it was said, she was intending to let them finish their talking, besides, she disliked eavesdropping on others, so she got hit quite hard.

"..."

The sudden words caused her face to be flushed red, her heart started beating like it was in 5th gear. The beating in her heart couldn't stop at all.

 _'You should praise me more,'_ Laura did say that to Ichika once or twice, but in fact, he never praised her before, so of course he never told her 'you're very pretty.' But after hearing such sudden words, it's no wonder that the calm Laura who was called the German Ice would panic.

 _'P…Pr…Pretty?! I'm, pretty... very pretty...'_ Ignoring the surroundings, Laura pressed her hand on her chest and closed her eyes. She gathered concentration that would normally be unrequired, and after misdialing a few times, she opened the I.S. private channel.

* * *

At the same time, in a German training facility, the I.S. special group 'Schwarzer Hase' [Black Hare] were training. There were ten I.S. units in Germany, and this unit possesses three, which proved that they were the strongest squad.

The unit's seal was the 'Hare with an eyepatch'. With Laura as the leader, all the members had nanomachines inserted into their eye to improve I.S. computation. Though Laura's eyepatch was a function control, right now, all the members wore eyepatches to protect their eyes and for the pride of the unit.

"What are you doing!? You're late by thirty-seven seconds! Hurry up!" Growling angrily was the assistant commander, Clarissa Harfouch, 22 years old, the oldest in the squad. With so many members who were in their teenage years, she was a 'reliable big sis' who was strict and yet could involve everyone appropriately.

Her I.S. frame **Schwarzer Zweig** [Black Branch] received a private channel signal from what amounted to a distress call.

"Roger that. This is Lieutenant Clarissa Harfouch," Vice-commander replied.

"It… It's me..." Normally speaking, one has to report the name and rank, but as the other person's voice was wavering ridiculously, Clarissa inadvertently let out a stunned look.

"Commander Bodewig, have you encountered any difficulties?" She asked worriedly.

"Ah, ahh... there's-there's a major problem now..." Voice on the other side mumbled.

Listening to the tone of the speaker from the other side, Clarissa felt that things weren't that simple, and immediately used hand gestures to order 'end of training, emergency gathering'. "Do I need to bring the squad over?" Vice-commander asked.

"No, no need, there's no need for the squad. It's, it's not military-related problem, anyway..." Laura replied.

"What is that then?"

"Clarissa, well. Am… Am… Am I, look, pretty... or not?"

*Several seconds long silence*

"What?!" Clarissa's voice, which was rhythmically flat, just raised by half an octave. Facing the unknown sudden situation, the originally intense tone became what seemed to be dumbfounding words to them.

"I… Ichi… Ichika, he-he seemed to have said that, so..." Laura explained, if you can call that an explanation.

Hearing this, Clarissa immediately remembered. "Ahh, so it's Instructor Orimura's younger brother. Commander seems to have feelings for that guy."

"Uu, well... wha… what should I do, Clarissa? What should I do in this situation?"

"Well... let's understand the situation. Did he say that to you directly?"

"No, that's not it, I think he wouldn't expect me to be here..."

"That's great."

"Is… Is that so?"

"Yes, praising someone when she's not around, that's definitely not a lie."

"I… I see...!" Laura's voice, which was wavering up till now, seemed to bloom like a flower after hearing Clarissa's words.

On a side note, Clarissa had been chatting with her using the private channel and using a pen to pass the message to the other members at the same time. _'There's hope for the Commander and her crush,'_ She wrote.

"OOOHHHHH~!" More than 10 girls cried out. On a side note, Laura had a lot of interpersonal relationship problems with her squad, but after the **VT** incident last month, she started discussing with Clarissa that 'I have someone I like' thing, and all walls vanished.

If there's a need to describe the situation, well, it's something like this:

"WHAAAT! THAT-THAT COMMANDER, LIKES, A... A GUY!?"

"I THOUGHT SHE REALLY LIKED INSTRUCTOR ORIMURA...!"

"Yeah, yeah, I thought so as well. But, well, that commander, we're talking about her now. She actually asked 'What should I do to a-attract a-a guy...?'!" Clarissa wrote another phrase.

"""KYAAAHHHH!"""

"So I seriously taught her! I told her that there's a culture of 'taking the person you like as your bride' in Japan!" …Aha, so source of Laura's misinformation was localized… too bad even Ichika had no way of knowing it right now.

"AS EXPECTED OF THE VICE-COMMANDER! SHE'S REALLY FAMILIAR WITH JAPAN!"

"Of course, I didn't just read Japanese Shoujo manga just to put a front or because of curiosity!" Clarissa seemed to be quite proud of it…

"SO… SO COOL...!"

"I LOVE THIS COOL VICE-COMMANDER!"

"BUT I LIKE THE CUTE COMMANDER EVEN MORE!"

"THAT'S RIGHT! ME TOO! AHH, WHY COULDN'T WE LINK WITH HER WHEN SHE WAS IN THE COUNTRY!?"

"I REMEMBER THAT THEY COOK RED RICE IN JAPAN AT THIS TIME!"

"I guess so? It probably means that the blood is thicker than what, or something like that…" Clarissa assumed.

"AS EXPECTED OF JAPAN, IT'S REALLY EXCITING!"

"IT'S WORTHY OF ADMIRATION!"

"ALRIGHT, EVERYONE, THAT'S IT FOR TRAINING TODAY! LET'S HEAD TO THE ARMY CANTEEN AND COOK RED RICE TOGETHER!"

"""YES! VICE-COMMANDER!"""

It was that sort of feeling. As expected of girls in their teenager years (a small group of them are 20+). Everyone would argue because of trivial matters, and would patch up because of trivial matters.

But returning to Laura, "An… And then, I… I'm at, that… that place where they're selling swimsuits now..."

"Oh, swimsuits! Oh yeah, you have a seaside school next week. What will you be wearing then, commander?" Clarissa wondered.

"U, un? The school issued swimsuit…" Laura replied uncertainly.

"ARE YOU STUPID!" Vice-commander suddenly shouted, even making Laura to flinch. "I remember that the I.S. Academy has the old-fashioned sports swimsuit, so it isn't bad, or not... guys more or less would be aroused by it. But... that's…"

"That… That's...?" Laura forcefully swallows her saliva, waiting Clarissa to finish her phrase.

"THAT'S NOT GOING TO BREAK THROUGH THE LINE OF EROTISM!" Vice-commander's voice was burning with passion.

"Wha...?" Laura was even scared a bit by Clarissa's surge of enthusiasm.

"It's true that commander can't use voluptuous curves to trap men, but if you give up on this opportunity, you can't progress with 'that guy you have feelings for'!" Lieutenant proclaimed.

"The… Then... What should I do?" Bodewig stuttered.

"Fuu fuu, I have a secret weapon," As even her words were burning with passion, Clarissa let out a glint in her eye.

* * *

And that's it for chapter VII. See you soon people!


	8. 11 O'clock, at sea

Hello again people! Here I am with eighth chapter. It again took a while to write it, but I have to update other stories from time to time… whatever.

Now, some talk with those who wrote a **review.**

 **Imperial-samaB, LabMember009Isaac, FateBurn, Toolazytologin, xghosthunter115, DarkBladerZX:** Many thanks people, here's an update, sorry that it again took almost two months…

 **xxOblivionxxx:** Tabane and Chifuyu could be hardly called "MILFs", but they're more mature, no arguing with that.

 **Crow of Hecate:** It's still valid.

 **The Quotable Patella** : Agree, maybe pragmatic isn't the right word exactly, but closest I could come with. Besides, as story progresses – some changes may happen…

 **Oslight:** Of course she did, maybe we even learn about its contents one day…

…

 **Chapter VIII – 11 O'clock, at sea.**

* * *

July 9th, about 10:30 AM.

"I can see the sea!" As the bus went through the tunnel, the girls in the class shouted out. It's the first day of the seaside school, and fortunately, today the weather's clear. The sea that's reflecting the sunlight off is rather stable, with the sea breeze gently swaying it.

Houki, Rin, Cecilia, Charlotte and Laura – all were traveling in the same bus, no doubts they all were driven by same intent – to 'capture' a seat near Ichika. However, only thing that was awaiting all of them was disappointment, as now Ichika was sitting on 1st seat, right beside his sister, who was this field trip supervisor. All girls were displaying a displeased look, but Ichika didn't even notice them, or rather, he noticed but ignored them, as he was staring into his holoscreen during entire trip. Chifuyu was busy with her own work, she was constantly making notes in her notepad, probably she was making last corrections to her training plans for this trip.

"What's wrong with him?!" Rin hissed as she stood up from her seat and looked at Ichika, only to see that he's still don't care about anything around him. By the way it was hard to say what exactly she's doing here since her class should be in another bus…

"How he can be so indifferent about us?!" Cecilia, who was sitting beside Chinese girl, agreed, "I won't forgive him that insult!"

On the other side of the corridor, Charlotte just let out a dreary sigh. Not only she couldn't get a seat near Ichika, she was also irritated by a girl that was sitting beside her – Houki, who was acting all weird since today's morning. She was either unable to calm down or was fidgeting, and it didn't seem like that is somehow connected to Ichika…

In contrast to others, German student, Laura Bodewig, didn't seem displeased and/or angry. Rather, she seemed aloof somehow. She was looking into window, at the same time wandering in her own thoughts… and, surprising girls that was sitting near her, she even smiled few times, touching her neck.

The secret was in that silver chain round her neck. Of course she never wore any jewelry before, but now she was… Yesterday, right after his talk with sister, Ichika found Laura, while she was still talking with her second-in-command, Clarissa. Not willing to disturb her he just said his goodbye, as he was sure that she can find her way back to academy on her own, but before he left he presented to her that silver chain. It was nothing special, gift he presented out of courtesy, nothing more. But for Laura it seemingly meant much more… And most likely, Clarissa added her own explanation…

"We're about to reach our destination. Everyone, sit down," The entire class immediately obeyed Chifuyu's order. This leadership ability is really outstanding. Just like homeroom teacher of class 1-1 said, the bus soon reached the hotel. The 1st years of I.S. Academy scoot off the four buses in a chaotic manner and started to line up.

"Then, this is the Kagetsu resort. From today onwards, we're going to be in their care for three days, so everyone is to be more respectful and not let the staff's work increase," Chifuyu instructed.

"""Thanks for taking care of us!""" After Chifuyu finished speaking, everyone said their greetings.

I.S. Academy seems to be taken care of by this resort every year, and the lady boss-san in the Japanese clothing bowed to just arrived people politely, "Alright, please move this way. The freshmen this year seem rather energetic. That's good."

She's probably about 30+ years old, and she gives off a hardworking woman vibe. Maybe it's because her profession makes her smile often, as she doesn't look like she became the lady boss of this place at all. She sure feels young.

"Oh my, is this the rumored...?" Meeting Ichika's eyes coincidentally, the resort administrator asked Chifuyu.

"Oh, yes, as there's a male student this year, it'll be hard for you to separate the baths. I'm really sorry," Orimura-sensei apologized. Did she forget again about Ichika's indifference about baths?

"No no no, that's not the case," Administrator smiled, no doubts she noticed right away that 'male student' and Chifuyu looks much alike, "He's a fine boy. Feels reliable."

Chifuyu took a breath, no doubts she was intending to say something caustic, but Ichika was expecting that so he quickly stepped forward, offering his right hand for a handshake, "Lieutenant-commander Ichika Orimura, pleased to meet you," Ichika introduced himself as stars on his shoulder straps glinted on morning sun.

Administrator looked at Ichika's arm in confusion. "Oh, a thousand apologies!" Ichika postured deep regret as he quickly removed his arm and bowed to lady boss instead, "I returned from USA recently, still can't rid of their habits…"

"Oh, no, no need for apologizes!" Administrator quickly replied, "It was just unexpected, hahaha, I'm not offended at all!" She assured, and there were barely noticeable playful notes in her laugh.

"IIcchhiikkaa…." Rin growled through teeth, again displaying those yandere eyes…

 _'She's twice as older than you, how can you… flirt with that woman?!'_ Cecilia thought resentfully.

But those two were only ones who seemed angered, other girls seemingly didn't notice anything. "My younger brother here's really intolerable. Sorry to bother you," Chifuyu apologized.

"Oh my, I have to say, Orimura-sensei, you're really strict with your younger brother," Administrator noted, still smiling.

"Because I'm normally cleaning up the mess for him," Elder sister added, looking at her younger brother with narrowed eyes.

Ichika stepped back to his place in line, beside his sister, and when administrator turned away to look at other students, he slightly leaned towards Chifuyu and whispered, "Say whatever you like, she's at my side now…" Elder sister didn't reply anything, only looked at her brother with 'we're not done yet' sight.

"Then, please head towards your rooms," Administrator announced as she finished counting the students. "There's a changing room at the annex. All students who want to go to the beach, please head there to change. If you aren't clear on where it is, you are welcome to ask the staff members."

After the girls answered 'yes', they immediately walked into the resort. Anyway, everyone has to put their luggage down before doing anything else. On a side note, it's free and easy for the entire first day, so as for meals, everyone has to go to the resort's restaurant.

"A-Ahe-Ahem-Orimu~" That weird manner of calling someone, it must be that Nohohon-san… Looking behind Ichika, instead of looking straight at him, she's the same as normal, moving towards him at a snail's pace. That sleepy look of hers is most probably real. "Where's Orimura's room~? The room plan never indicated it. I want to play with you, so hurry up and tell me~"

As she said that, the girls around Ichika immediately pricked their ears, no need the emperor's eyes to see that. But what can they do even after knowing where his room is? They really think that Ichika is going to 'play' with them?

"Well, I don't know," Ichika replied plainly, _'But I hope it is as far away from you as possible,'_ He mentally added. Though, it is pretty obvious that he can't share the room with other girls, so his room should be located somewhere someplace else. The reason why It is 'seems' is because Yamada-sensei only put it like that. She didn't tell any specifics.

"Orimura. Here's your room. Follow me," Elder sister called for Ichika. She headed somewhere deeper inside building, and since she didn't pick up her bag, Ichika took a hint. *Sigh* He sighed, picking up sister's luggage as well, so now he was carrying two big boston bags, one white and one black.

On a side note, this resort's rather spacious and wide. It's already amazing that this can take the entire batch of students this year. The interior decors successfully blend the interior decorations and the latest facilities. The optimized air temperature regulator's really nice thing. Even the corridor's rather cooling, making one comfortable.

"Over here," Chifuyu pointed at door at another side of the corridor.

"Hmm? Really...?" Ichika asked with skepticism. Pasted on the door is the paper with the words 'Staff room'.

"The initial plan was to give you a single room, but if we do that, there will be girls who will ignore the lights out timing and try to stay in your room," Chifuyu explained the situation.

"Nonsense," Ichika snorted. "One snap of my fingers and they'll leave my room, marching in formation."

*Sigh*. "Doesn't matter," Elder sister sighed and continued, "Due to fact that this year we have more freshman than usual, there are simply not enough free rooms to give anyone a personal suit, so in the end, it's been decided that you'll be rooming with me."

"Well, that suits me just fine," Ichika commented. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Like that Ichika definitely do not need to bother himself about keeping his 'fangirls' at bay. "And with me here you won't have any troubles finding your clothes in the morning," He added, avoiding Chifuyu's attempt to hit him with her notepad.

"Let's make this clear first. This is official academy's event, so I'm still a teacher, don't forget that," Chifuyu reminded with narrowed eyes.

"As you say, Orimura-sensei," Ichika replied indifferently, looking for a place where he could drop his bag.

"Good to hear," Chifuyu nodded, taking her own bag from Ichika's hands.

It was a twin person's room, but the room itself is rather spacious. The wall is a shoji door, and the scenery from here is really good. The entire sea was right in front of Ichika. As the room's facing East, its residents can definitely see a beautiful sunrise. "It's not that bad…" Ichika said, examining the room he'll be staying in for the next three days. Besides that, the bathroom is isolated from the room, and even the sink has its own room. The luxurious bathtub is so big that this guy here can extend his legs out.

"The large bath can be used… ah, whatever," Since Ichika was quite indifferent towards baths, Chifuyu decided to not bother herself, explaining details about it. Nevertheless, even though there were only the two of them, Chifuyu was still fulfilling her duty. That's exactly how she works – always fulfilling her duties to the end, whatever they are.

"Alright, it's free and easy today. We'll just leave our luggage here. You can do whatever you want…" Chifuyu said, but as her eyes once again met with her brothers' eyes, she quickly added "…and no, you're not allowed to deploy your I.S. today! Stop tinkering with it for a bit and go breath some fresh air. Besides, since you're class representative, ensuring everyone's safety is your duties as much as mine, so go to the beach."

*Sigh* Ichika sighed. _'Ah, alright, maybe I really should take a day-off…'_ He thought. "What about you, Orimura-sensei?"

"I still need to contact and check with the other teachers. There's a lot of things to deal with. However, well, ahem…" Chifuyu cleared her throat "…nevertheless, I also intend to swim today. Besides, a certain younger brother specially bought a swimsuit for me."

"I see," Ichika nodded. In the end, that was exactly what she asked him to buy when he was in California, as, in the matter of fact, with his emperor's eye Ichika knew his sister's dimensions even better than Chifuyu herself, and he was reliable in terms of choosing clothes.

*Knock knock*. Their conversation got interrupted by the knocking on the door.

"Excuse me, Orimura-sensei. Can I bother you for a while?" That voice definitely belongs to Yamada-sensei.

"Sure, please enter," Orimura-sensei called for her.

On hearing Chifuyu's answer, Maya opened the door, and almost crashed into Ichika who stood in front of mirror, near the door. "WAH! ORIMURA-SAN!" She exclaimed in shock as she noticed him at the last moment.

"You don't really have to be that shocked..." Ichika facepalmed. It seems that she came here to deal with teaching stuff, as Yamada-sensei seemed like she was looking through some documents as she entered, and then lifted her head up and saw him.

"So-Sorry! I forgot that Orimura-san's sleeping in Orimura-sensei's room!" Maya frantically apologized.

"Yamada-sensei, I thought that was your idea, right?" Orimura-sensei asked with narrowed eyes.

"Ye-Yes. That's right! Yes! I'm sorry!" Being on the receiving end of Chifuyu's sharp glare, Maya looked like she got bitten by a snake.

"Alright, Orimura, we're going to work. You can go wherever you want, so enjoy yourself," Chifuyu addressed her brother.

"Very well, I'll head to the beach soon, just give me a few moments," He replied as he came out to room's balcony and closed door behind himself, he just needed few minutes to gather his thoughts.

"Don't take too long," Chifuyu reminded.

* * *

10 minutes later.

Completely pale, even a bit gray, Maya Yamada was sitting on sofa, barely holding the cap of tea with shaking hands. When Ichika left the room, Chifuyu took documents that Maya brought, and while she was examining them, she asked Maya to help her unpack her stuff, and this is when unexpected thing happened… So now, while Maya was rethinking her entire life, Orimura siblings were deafeningly yelling at each other.

"…this is **M.T.D.I.T**! I began to develop it as a possible replacement for quantum transfer technology which I.S. uses now, but this is very early prototype, no way it could be used on living beings, let alone humans! You wanted Maya to turn into chaotic set of ones and zeros?!"

"…you damn idiot! How many times I told you to not bring here anything dangerous?! Which part of that you didn't understand?!"

"…it is not dangerous if you don't touch it! Yesterday I bought two new bags – white for me and black for you – how could you mix them up?!"

"Shut up and get rid of that thing!" Elder sister ordered.

When Chifuyu asked for Maya's help she pointed at wrong bag. Maya took out Ichika's prototype and accidentally switched it on. At the last moment, thanks to her inhuman reaction, Chifuyu managed to knock out that device from Maya's hands. It fell on chair and chair disappeared, turning into blue square particles. When Maya understood that, if Chifuyu wouldn't interfere, she would be one disappearing… well, Chifuyu was fast enough to deliver her to toilet or poor sensei would barfed right on the floor.

Ichika picked up his hapless device and it disappeared into his quantum space. Chifuyu looked at Maya. No matter how much she was angry at her brother right now, she knew that she's as guilty as he is, so if she'll try to cheer up Yamada-sensei now it'll only make things worse.

"Orimura!" Chifuyu called for her student, "Today you're responsible for student's safety, get out there and make sure nothing happens, understood?" Seemingly she just couldn't let him go without punishment, but she couldn't be too hard on him either… it was her mistake, in the end.

"As you say," Ichika snorted. He still had a lot to say about that, but not in front of poor Maya, they can sort things out when they again will be brother and sister, not student and teacher.

* * *

July 9th, about 11 O'clock AM.

On his way to the changing room, Ichika met Houki. That was just coincident meeting, nothing more. The problem was the mysterious scene in front of her. Houki stood there, staring at it with very strained face expression.

There were bunny ears sticking out from the ground. On a side note, we're not talking about living bunny ears here, but 'bunny ears' that 'bunny girls' from bar would wear. It's just that these bunny ears are white, not pink. And there's even a 'Please pull' piece of paper stuck on it.

"She went completely wrong in the upper storey?" Ichika wondered, looking at bunny ears with condescending expression in his eyes. "Interesting, does she…"

"I don't know, don't ask me. It has nothing to do with me," Houki immediately denied everything before Ichika could even finish his phrase. Ichika just facepalmed, Houki was still as dense as ever. Though, here's no doubts about this ears' meaning…

Her talents are limitless, the genius amongst geniuses, the woman who self-proclaimed to have 35 hours a day, the developer of I.S., and Houki's older sister. It's definitely Shinonono Tabane, alright.

"Okay... will you going to follow instruction? Or you want me to do it?" Ichika asked.

"Do whatever you want. It doesn't involve me," After saying that, Houki immediately left. Well, Ichika was well aware that her relationships with Tabane are somewhat hard to repair.

Ichika was left alone in front of those 'ears'. Being assigned as a life-guard for today, Ichika had to go to the beach, who knows what those girls can do… But if he leave *this* as it is, it may pose even more immediate danger. Ichika could read almost everyone like an open book… but this one was completely unpredictable.

*Sigh* He sighed, leaned down and pulled bunny ears from the ground.

"What are you doing?" High girl's voice asked.

"Oh, Cecilia. It's nothing, can't you see? I was just pulling these bunny ears from the ground…" Ichika said with sarcasm.

"Wha-What?" Cecilia asked back with a surprised voice. This can't be helped. If Ichika wouldn't exactly knew what it is, even he would feel that it's just nonsense.

Instead of answer, Ichika just pointed upward. Right above, there was a thing that was flying at supersonic speed.

"UWAAHHH!" Blonde screamed and leaped backwards.

*DONK!* An unidentified flying object drilled deeply into the ground, and it looked like…

"A-A carrot...?" Cecilia's eyes widened. That's understandable as it really looked like an illustration-style transforming carrot. Ichika, however, doesn't seemed surprised.

"Aww! You're meanie, Ik-kun!" The carrot split into half, and the person who appeared, looking like a child whose prank was discovered, was the aforementioned genius – Shinonono Tabane... Ichika never could understand why she's spending so much for these absurdly-looking entrances, but that's what makes her unique and so interesting. "Well, when I used a missile to fly, I was nearly shot down by a certain country's scouting planes! I'm a creature who knows how to learn. Fui Fui!" She's wearing a tightfitting blue and white skirt that's like the one in Alice in Wonderland.

She leaned forward, attempting to take the bunny ears from Ichika's hands, but at that moment Ichika made quick step aside and forward (no doubts he was using emperor's eye), so when Tabane made a step she ended up pressing her lush breasts to Ichika's chest. "Oh, nice, they're as resilient as ever… and became even bigger, I think," He commented as he put bunny ears on her head. Is she acting the part of Alice in Wonderland alone? Doesn't matter… "It's been a while since we saw each other in person, Tabane-san." Ichika's tone was different from usual, until now, he was only talking like that to his sister.

"Yup yup, it's been long, really long. Speaking of which, Ik-kun, where's Houki-chan? Weren't both of you together just now? Did she go to the bathroom?" She asked, not even trying to change position Ichika lured her in. Their faces were so close that from aside it looked like they're going to kiss.

"Hah..." Ichika snorted. "Houki's still Houki. She went off to escape any possibility that you two could be seen together," He answered her question, not even trying to sweeten the pill. He knew that it won't discourage Tabane even a bit, no matter what Houki thinks – no one knows her better than her elder sister. "So it's your today's quest – find Houki," Ichika added.

"Well, no problem. I can use just this little Houki-chan detector to find her!" Tabane announced joyfully as she finally stepped away from Ichika.

"Ah, so you brought a cheat tool…" Ichika sighed with false disappointment.

"Bye bye, Ik-kun. See you later!" Just like that, she vanished like the wind, and blazingly fast. On a side note, it seems that the 'Houki-chan detector' she was talking about seems to be that pair of bunny ears. In any case, these ears successfully turned towards where Houki went. Detector's design was quite disputable, though…

"I-Ichika-san? Who was that...?" Cecilia seemed deeply shocked, and not only by Tabane's extremely weird appearance and overall behavior, interaction between her and Ichika seemed unacceptably intimate.

"She's Tabane-san, Houki's older sister," Ichika replied as if nothing unusual happened.

"Huh... WHAAT?" It wasn't even exclamation, more like a scream. "That… That was Professor Shinonono? The professor who's currently missing and every country's looking for?"

"Yes, this is she – Shinonono Tabane," Ichika replied with irony.

On a side note, this seaside school event has a theme called 'I.S. mobilization in unrestricted area', so there are all sorts of new models sent over from all countries. But as outside personnel are not allowed to participate, access to this area is heavily restricted. However, as expected of Chifuyu's childhood friend, she likely ignored all the rules completely and sneaked in. _'Really, I'd like to see a rule that would stop Shinonono Tabane,'_ Ichika smiled to himself.

"Ichika-san?" Cecilia called for him again. "If that was Professor Shinonono, why you… why she… why you two seemed so close?" The way two were talking, it really seemed weird, to say the least, at least for those who didn't know anything about Tabane.

But Ichika wasn't in mood to discuss that. "Don't bother about that, she's looking for Houki, so it looks like it's unrelated to me for now. Speaking of which, I'm going to the beach. What about you, Cecilia?"

"Oh, okay, I'm going to the beach too. Oh-Oh yes! Ahem!" Cecilia clears her throat. What's wrong? Is she trying to imitate Chifuyu? "I-I can't rub sunblock lotion on my back, so I want Ichika-san to help out... can you?" She seemed embarrassed asking for that.

Ichika looked at her with ironic smile. Her intentions were as clear as noonday –by asking him to apply the sunblock lotion on her back she wants to let Ichika fell softness of her skin, to taste all her curves with his own hands. Cheap trick, but pretty effective. And Ichika had no reasons to deny it – this day will be a complete waste of time anyway.

"Alright," He shrugged, "But I'm afraid I can only spend a few minutes, Onee-san wants me to act as a lifeguard for today…" Seemingly, Ichika was still displeased with Chifuyu, so he didn't call her 'sensei' in front of another student.

"Re-Really? You won't take it back, right?" She sounded really agitated, even excited.

"Who do you think I am?" Ichika narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, sorry, Ichika-san," Blonde quickly backed down. Really, Ichika ain't one who takes his words back, "I got it! See you later then!" After nodding hard twice, Cecilia ran to the annex. She's not as fast as Tabane, but her footsteps are rather light.

"Alright. See you at the sea then," Ichika said and headed towards changing room.

Of course, being a guy, he was told to use the inner most changing room in the annex's changing rooms. On a side note, once he leave that annex, he should be going straight to the beach, as quite a lot of girls were already there.

Speaking of which... The inner most changing room – this means that Ichika have to go past all the female changing room. Of course, he won't be able to see what's inside (not that he ever wanted), but he couldn't avoid hearing screams of excitement, like those:

"Wah, Mika! Your breasts are big! You're still in puberty, right!?"

"Kyah! Don't! Don't grab them!"

"Mena's swimsuit's rather bold! Amazing…"

"Really?! This is common in America…"

By the way, Ichika had to agree with the last statement, swimsuits that US women are wearing were quite daring, not by his standards, but comparing to Japanese ones…

In any case, all these topics are being discussed casually. To be honest, Ichika was quite indifferent about hearing these. For common boy, it most likely would be embarrassing, but what common boy would be doing in I.S. Academy training camp anyway?

* * *

Ichika quickly changed to his swimming trunks and headed to seaside. He bought those swimming trunks while he was in California, just in case (he still had hope that he'll be able to avoid participation in this 'training camp').

"Ah, look, it's Orimura-sama!"

"Are… Are you for real?! Is… Is my swimsuit weird?! There's no problem, right?!"

"Wahh! His physique's amazing! He did train!"

"Orimura-sama, let's play beach volleyball later!"

Having just exited the changing room, I met a few girls who exited from the neighboring changing room. They're all wearing cute swimsuits of different kinds… but nothing eye-catching. "Oh, if there's time later, okay," Ichika replied somehow automatically.

And then, Ichika took a step to the seaside. "Damn, it's already hot…" He complained. In fact, Ichika didn't like beaches… He was a very good swimmer, but he preferred swimming pools.

The beach was already full of female students. Some are sunbathing, some are playing beach volleyball, some are swimming, everyone's doing all sorts of activities. As it was said, they're all wearing swimsuits of many different colors, and in a certain sense, it's even more eye-blinding than the sun of July.

"Ouch!" Rin yelped as she suddenly fell right beside Ichika, as he quickly stepped aside. "Hey! You promised to not do that again!" She exclaimed resentfully, lying on beach sand. In middle school, as a cheerleader team captain, Rin often was jumping on Ichika's back, and then climbing on his shoulders, waving her hands around, as if "celebrating victory". It was fun for the first few times, but Ichika quickly became annoyed by that, so using his all-round field of vision, he began to dodge her jumps.

"Rin? Oh, sorry, I didn't notice you…" Ichika said innocently. He looked around. Since it was a resort, its beach of course already was 'equipped' with lifeguard service – Ichika noticed two high cabins with two men in each one, so his interference's most likely unneeded. Besides, if he'll announce that he's also a lifeguard for today, girls may get some stupid ideas, like faking their drowning, etc. It's better for him to just mind his own business, in any case his emperor's eye won't miss if something really serious will happen.

"Ah… Hey! What are you two doing?" Walking over here, Cecilia questioned Ichika and Rin. She's holding onto the foldable beach umbrella, a beach mat and sunblock. She's wearing a bright blue bikini, and the sari that's tied around her waist has a bit of elegance. It looks nice, just like a model. The ample breasts the swimsuit emphasizes are more alluring than what one could imagine… if only she would be a bit more mature…

"Does it looks like that we're doing anything?" Ichika asked. Really it looked weird, Ichika just standing there, watching into the sea, and Rin lying beside him and screaming. By the way, Rin's arguing brought attention of several other girls.

"Anyway, Ichika-san, please hurry up and help me apply the sunblock!" Cecilia shouted.

"""WHAAAT!?"""

Cecilia had to say it very loud to outvoice Rin, who just couldn't settle down about that Ichika dodged her, but due to that other girls stirred up:

"I'll get the sunblock!"

"I'll get the beach mat!"

"I'll get the beach umbrella!"

"Damn, I've already applied the sunblock… I'll wash it off then!"

 _'Here are so many of them… If I use my digital deconstruction device on few, most annoying of them, no one will notice, right?'_ Ichika thought, watching all these walking estrogen generators. Anyway, the girls who gathered here because of Rin's screams dispersed because of Cecilia.

"Ahem, I'll leave it to you then." Cecilia gently took off her sari. She sure can act as a real ojō-sama, even that action looked pretty elegant…

"Okay," Ichika sighed, "Just the back, right?" He asked.

"If… If Ichika-san wants, you can apply it on the front as well…" She replied with trembling voice.

 _'Ichika-san wants that all of you, including his elder sister, stopped wasting his time…'_ He thought, though he didn't say it aloud, as it wouldn't help anyway, so no reason to ruin these girls' mood for no reason. "Let's just start from the back and then we'll see."

"Alright, if that's the case…" Cecilia suddenly undone the swimsuit knot that was tied at the back and presses her breasts against her swimsuit as she was lying face-down on the beach mat. "I-I'm ready. Please rub, okay?"

"Very well..." Ichika replied. The swimsuit that was undone is now stuck between the beach mat and the body, as Cecilia's completely defenseless back is naked for show to Ichika. The cleavage that's revealed under the armpit is distorted, and it's looking quite sexy… Also, maybe it's because she's pressing down, but her curvy buttocks aren't making anyone to forget about them, and her straight legs are as pretty as ever.

"Okay, let me warm up my hands," Ichika said as he plunged his ever-cold right hand into hot send to warm it up. Then he squeezed the sunblock on his palms and rubbed it between before applying it on Cecilia. He sure looked like he knows what he's doing…

 _'Hmm… Cecilia's skin is really supple... I can say that it's comfortable just by touching it with my only living hand...'_ Ichika thought.

"Mn... That's nice!" Blonde moaned sweetly, "Ichika-san, do the bottom part as well."

"Are you sure?" Ichika asked, he seemingly has no issues with that.

"Yes, of course!" Cecilia confirmed (more loud than needed), "...since you already started rubbing it on me, please rub onto the parts my hands can't reach, including the legs, and the butt."

"As you wish…" Ichika shrugged, but just when he was intending to get more sunblock to continue, Rin suddenly got between him and English girl.

"What are you thinking?!" She asked indignantly. "Can't you see you're making Ichika uncomfortable, making such requests. But if you need it that much, I'll rub it for you, until you're all sticky."

"KYAH! Ri… Rin-san, why did you come here to me… AH! IT… IT'S COLD!" Cecilia screamed as Rin suddenly begun to cover blonde's body with sunblock, without preparations.

"What's the problem? Since you just need to apply sunblock, it's doesn't matter how you do it. I'll rub it on you," Rin said maliciously.

"Ahh, that's enough! Behave yourse…" Cecilia shouted as she stood up angrily, and the swimsuit slipped down the body as she raised her arm, seemingly intending to shake her fist. But as she did that, even her long hair could hide her chest no longer, so it was revealed for everyone.

"KYAH!" Cecilia suddenly understood that she's standing topless right in front of Ichika. She quickly ducked down, so embarrassed that her ears were all red.

"Ah... sorry," Rin said, it was obvious that she's not sorry at all.

"It… It… It's basically, saying sorry now, that's... RIN-SAN! I DEFINITELY WON'T FORGIVE YOU!" Cecilia yelled, still holding to her breasts.

"Hey, relax, you have an excellent body, there's nothing to be shy of," Ichika said calmingly.

"Well, thanks…" Cecilia replied but suddenly she got the full meaning of Ichika's words "…WAIT, ICHIKA-SAN?! RIN-SAN, GET OVER HERE!" Now her face was as red as beet, she's unable to grip her fist tight and swing over as she maintains that pose, frozen there.

"Hmm... I'm running off then. Bye bye!" Rin shouted as she grabbed Ichika's arm and began to drag him towards the sea.

"She wasn't joking, she really won't forgive you," Ichika commented, though he let himself to be dragged into the sea, dealing with overembarrassed Cecilia was the last thing he wanted to do now.

"Forget about her!" Rin exclaimed, "Let's have a race to that buoy over there, Ichika! If you lose, you have to treat me to parfait at ' CRUISE'… READY, GO!"

"Seriously? You do realize that you don't have a chance against me?" Ichika asked as he chased after Rin. On a side note, the cheapest parfait ' CRUISE' sells for 1,500 yen. Ichika was indifferent towards parfaits, but when he'll win, he can ask for something equal in price.

"We'll see about my chances!" Rin shouted, her competitive spirit was as high as ever. "I was a mermaid in my previous life, no way you can beat me in the sea!"

* * *

 _'I'm really sorry, Cecilia, but I cannot let you win this time,'_ Rin continued to swim against Ichika as she pondered. Her strategic plan to get closer to Ichika and attract him with good-served, home-made food ultimately failed. _'I thought that was a good strategy!'_ But Ichika was always busy with his I.S., or training, or he simply was nowhere to be found, _'Really, what's wrong with him…'_

Besides, there was another problem with her plans, and that is 'he still sees her as a _girl_ , not as _young woman_ '. To be honest, Rin was rather frustrated because of that. Chinse girl really was feeling that her flat chest's quite a disadvantage.

 _'No, no worries! There shouldn't be that many girls who would stick close to him! As for Cecilia, well, it was a close shave...'_ Thinking up till here, she remembered the situation just now. _'Sunblock lotion... Ichika wasn't looking stiff at all, and he surely knows how to do that… how?! Anyway, maybe I should just get him to apply it on me…'_

It was Cecilia's idea, but the winner is whoever does it first. _'But… But, he'll touch my body. It, it doesn't matter if I touch him, but if he's to touch me... It's… it's a little embarrassing...'_ She cooled her gradually reddening face into the sea, but the fluttering in her chest doesn't stop as it becomes even faster. _'...But other girls would definitely have confessed to him...'_

*Bukubukubuku*, Rin was not exhaling, but sighing to hide her embarrassment. The air was forming bubbles in the sea. _'Huuh, Huang Lingyin, buck up! You're already studying in I.S. Academy, what do you intend to do if you don't work harder!?'_

"Hey, Ichika! Watch me… what?!" Wandering in her own thoughts, Rin didn't notice how Ichika went ahead of her. There was still some distance between her and the buoy, but Ichika already was sitting on that buoy. "How?!" Being deeply shocked, she accidentally took in a large amount of air. But this is the sea, so what she breathed in wasn't air, but seawater.

"!?GLUPPLUPLUP?!" As it was too sudden, Rin sank into a light moment of panic and started struggling due to the sudden loss of balance. _'Wa… Water, ran in...! Up, got to go up...'_

But as this was the water, she didn't know which direction she was swimming towards. As Rin looked like she was really about to drown, a strong arm grabbed her and began to pull her up. She knew that steel grip, _'Ah! Ichika... This is Ichika's arm...'_ A sense of relief spread through her chest. Rin hugged onto the strong arm and floated up to the surface.

* * *

"Hey, mermaid, are you alright?" Ichika asked, even in such situation he couldn't rid of sarcastic notes in his voice.

"GUHA! Ha ha! I… I'm alright..." She coughed, spitting seawater.

"Really, don't you know? When you're swimming – think about swimming, you shouldn't have your head in the clouds," Ichika scolded her. He of course noticed that she's distracted and he had pretty good guess why she was distracted.

"That… That's not it!" Rin protested, "I nearly drowned because… because of you..."

"That's what I meant," Ichika replied with the same sarcastic notes. "Ah, it doesn't matter now," He sighed, "Let's get back to land. C'mon." Ichika turned his back on Rin.

"Wha… What are you going to do?" She asked uncertainly.

"How does it look like?" Ichika asked as if it was obvious, "Get on. I'll carry you back."

"I… I'm alright. We're just heading back to the beach after all," Rin mumbled, flushing slightly.

Even though she said that, Ichika couldn't just leave alone someone who nearly drowned right now. Her biorhythms were unstable, and if he leave her and she'll drown – Chifuyu definitely will go hog wild. Besides, Ichika definitely wasn't in mood to persuade anyone right now. "Hetare Nigō [Loser №2], don't make me repeat myself," He looked at her with very cold gaze. "Today I'm responsible for student's safety. You will obey or I'll report to Orimura-sensei that you have almost drowned. Shall I explain the consequences to you?"

As she heard that, Rin's innards grew cold, she could very well imagine what awaits her… "Ok… Okay! I got it..." Now Rin is finally obedient enough, she silently climbed on Ichika's back.

He learned a lot of things from his elder sister, in particular Chifuyu once taught her brother how to carry someone while swimming. "Pat my back if water enters your mouth. You'll choke if you start to talk," Ichika instructed.

"Mmm…" Rin gave inarticulate respond with her mouth shut as Ichika was swimming towards the coast. Ichika saw that she pouted her lips, no doubts she was offended when Ichika threatened her and called her a loser once more. But after few minutes, when they already were close to the shore, she relaxed.

"Well, about that, Ichika..." She said quietly.

"Be silent," Ichika instructed, "You'll drink seawater once you talk."

"No, that's alright. Forget about that, well..." Her voice was quiet, but the last few words reached Ichika's ears clearly, "Tha… Thank you..."

"Don't mention it," Ichika nodded his head in response and continued to carry Rin up the coast.

Ichika's feet touched the sea floor. "Ichika, It… It's okay. I can walk on my own now," Girl on his back mumbled.

"Don't be hasty," Ichika replied, ignoring Rin's words as he continued to carry her.

"No! That's enough, hurry up and let me down!" Noticing Ichika returning to the coast, the other girls quickly turned around. Rin probably was against the idea of being seen by those people, so she was struggling quite stubbornly.

"Alright, alright," Ichika sighed tiredly, "I'll let you down, so stop moving wildly. Even if you were a monkey in your previous life, what'll happen if you fall?"

"I… I was a mermaid in my previous life..." Rin mumbled resentfully.

"Whatever…" Ichika bent his body down and let Rin off.

"I-I'll go over there to rest..." After saying that, Rin quickly ran to the annex. Having been carried back, she was really embarrassed as her face blushed quite a bit. And Ichika knew the reason.

"This is why you're Hetare…" He sighed, "If you want me to stop seeing you as a little girl – stop acting like one…"

"Ah, Ichika, you're here!" Having his name called up, he turned around to see Charlotte and… something.

"And what is this?" Ichika asked skeptically, "Ain't you two a bit too old to play a… towel mummy?"

There's a super mysterious thing, it's covered completely in quite a few towels, from the head to the knees... but Ichika recognized those neat little feet – Laura.

"Alright, come out now, it's alright," Charlotte said encouragingly.

"I… I'll decide whether it's alright..." Yeah, Laura's voice… But why is it that the proud and calm Laura sounded so cowardly? And Charlotte's trying to cheer her up…

"What are you two doing?" Ichika asked again, that was quite a morbid scene.

"Oookay, it's rare for you to wear a swimsuit. Let Ichika see it!" Charlotte continued her attempts to encourage Laura.

"Ho… Hold on, I need a bit of mental preparation as well..." Laura mumbled.

 _'What's wrong with you now?'_ Ichika thought in annoyance, _'I already saw you naked several times, what else you think I didn't see… by the way, I saw this one naked as well…'_ His sight fell on French girl.

"Well, you've been saying that for a while, and you still haven't come out. And since I helped out, he should have the right to see it as well, right?" Charlotte continued to persuade Laura.

Speaking of which, Charlotte and Laura seem to be staying in the same room. Seemingly, Ichika really managed to set both of them straight – one was posing as a boy, other was proud and lonely… But now they are just ordinary roommates, with surprisingly good relationships. But seems Laura's still has some issues with socialization. Maybe she would change if she's with someone intimate like Charlotte… time will show.

"Okay, Laura, if you don't want to show yourself, I'm going to play with Ichika and ignore you," Charlotte announced, seemingly she tired of persuading Laura… or not?

"Wha… What?" Laura stuttered.

"Yeah, let's do it. Let's go, Ichika," After that, Charlotte grabbed Ichika's hand, and then leaned on his shoulder as she started to drag him towards the sea.

"Wa… Wait for me! I… I'll go!" Laura slightly panicked.

"Like that?" Charlotte asked with mischievous smile.

"Humph…" Laura snorted. "I'll take it off! I'll take it off!" So that's was Charlotte's plan to make Laura rid of her 'cover'?

 _'What a damn kindergarten?!'_ Ichika thought in annoyance. Worst of all – he knew that it'll come to something like this, and that's why he didn't want to participate in this 'training camp' in the first place.

Several pieces of towel dropped down in an instant. Under the sun, Laura's dressed in a swimsuit. And as for that swimsuit… The black swimsuit is decorated with a large number of laces. On first glance, it looks like a sexy lingerie. Her hair that's usually not dolled up is now tied into ponytails on left and right side. Though it looks like she's imitating Rin's get up, in truth, Laura looks… well, very nice. Seeing her really insecure added that cuteness factor. Too bad that it wasn't what Ichika liked…

"It's not weird at all! Right, Ichika?" Charlotte asked explicitly cheerfully.

"Oh, yeah, this one's really suits you," Ichika replied, but he just said what girls were expecting him to say. In fact – he thoughts were right opposite – if this swimsuit can turn 'German Ice' into embarrassed junior schoolgirl, then it *does not* suits her, but Ichika already tired from all that.

"WHA...!" But neither French nor German girl have noticed Ichika's indifference. Laura seem to be taken aback by that as she paused for a while, her face all blushed. "That… That's enough for courtesies..." By the way, chain that Ichika bought for Laura was still on her neck.

"No, I'm just saying what I see," Ichika said, whatever it's good or bad – it's different story. "Do you agree, Charlotte?"

"Yup, I told her that she was cute, and yet she didn't believe me at all. By the way I helped design Laura's hairstyle! It's rare for her to wear a swimsuit, so she should of course look a little trendier!" French girl exclaimed with 'hidden' hint.

"Oh. So that's how it is. Yeah, your swimsuit suits you well too, Charlotte," Ichika replied. That was mostly truth, by the way.

"Uu, yeah! Thanks." After Ichika praised her, Charlotte fiddled with her hair looking embarrassed.

"Ori-mu-ra-sama!"

"We just agreed to play beach volleyball!"

"Wha…?! Against Orimu~… That's great!"

That's the girl to whom Ichika promised to play, and some of her friends, and that Nohohon-san. As it was said, he agreed somehow automatically, but what's done is done, besides, not that he was too busy right now.

"Heh! Here, Orimura-sama!" The beach volleyball flew to Ichika. After receiving the ball, he looked at people beside him.

"Okay, you two should be fine," Ichika addressed Laura and Charlotte, "It'll be 3 on 3. Alright, prepare the court." After hearing Ichika's reply, the two girls quickly began to expand the net, and the Nohohon-san began to draw the boundary on the beach. _'Damn, she's super slow…'_ Ichika facepalmed.

"Then, we'll use the basic rules, okay? Maximum of 3 hits, no consecutive spikes, first to 10 gets the set!" Girl from the opposite team announced.

"Alright, you people can serve first," Ichika threw the ball over.

The receiving girl's eyes glowed (her name was something like Kushinada-san), "Hohoho, let me show you the Summer Devil of July's... ability!" She jumped for the serve. Ichika couldn't complain about the speed or the angle – no doubts, she's from volleyball club.

"Watch me!" Charlotte shouted that. As expected of the reliable honor student. Maybe she wasn't from volleyball club, but she's country representative candidate – her physical training is exceptional. She chased after ball and managed to spike it. Since it was 3vs3 instead of normal 2vs2, positioning from normal volleyball could be used. Ichika assumed setter's position, as no one suits this place better. He quickly reached position to hit the ball, but instead of hitting it, Ichika just caught it, thus stopping the game.

"Orimura-sama?" Girl from the opposite team asked in surprise? "You know, in volleyball you can't hold the ball like that…" Seemingly she decided that Ichika don't know the game's rules.

"Oh, sorry, Kushinada-san, but I had to stop the game, it seems we have a technical issue," Ichika explained his actions.

"What's wrong?" Another girl from opposite team asked. She examined the net and boundary, but everything seemed proper.

"No, no," Ichika clarified, "Here's an issue with my team member…" As he said that, he threw the ball back to Kushinada, and then headed straight to Laura, who was wandering in her own thoughts during game, as she couldn't leave alone that chain Ichika presented to her.

 _„Du da drüben! Du kam hier zu schlafen?!"_ Ichika asked with loud commanding voice. [ You there! You came here to sleep?!]

 _„Sir, nein, Sir!"_ Laura even jumped form unexpectedness, and replied automatically. [ Sir, no, sir!]

 _„Dann Reiß dich zusammen!"_ Ichika demanded, _"Wenn ich wegen dir verlieren, werde ich etwas Besonderes für Sie arrangieren! Möchten Sie zu laufen an der nächstgelegenen Stadt und zurück auf Schusters Rappen?!"_ [ Then pull yourself together!] [If I lose because of you, I will arrange something special for you! Do you want to run to nearest town and back on foot?!]

 _„Nein, Ausbilder! Bitte nicht! Ich werde versuchen härter!"_ Laura saluted. [ No, Instructor! Please don't! I'll try harder!]

„Ich hoffe du wirst, für dein eigen Sake..." Ichika replied with some maniacal expression in his eyes. [I hope you will, for your own sake…]

Laura shook her head to get back to her senses. _'What the hell was that?!'_ She was pretty shocked, being treated like that, not that such a treatment was new for her, though… _'Damn, they're so alike that I even called him 'instructor'?!'_ But just as Laura opened her mouth to say something aloud, Ichika cut her off.

"Save your complaints for later, we're on court now, play!" He said. Laura seemed offended, but one thing was certain – Ichika's 'shock therapy' did work, German girl now seemed sober.

"What did you say to her?" Charlotte wondered, she seemed surprised, particularly with that Ichika can speak Laura's native language freely.

"Rien de spécial" Ichika replied, now speaking Charlotte's native language, "Je viens de dire qu'il y aura des conséquences si nous perdons à cause de son." Then he smiled with that menacing smile again and added, "Par la manière, le même applique à vous... Ne me décevez..." [Nothing special][I've said that there will be consequences if we lose because of her][By the way, the same applies to you... Do not fail me...]

Charlotte gulped slightly… Something told her that this is not the time to argue about that he can't neither give orders nor threaten her or Laura… Besides, being bossed around like that, she felt herself offended… but also excited?!

In the meantime, Ichika again addressed opposing team, "Sorry for delay, please, let us resume our game…"

Though, girl in opposing team were quite amazed. "Orimura-sama, how many languages you can speak?!" Asked a girl with European appearance, as much as Ichika could remember her name was Milla O'Conree, and, despite her Irish-like surname, she actually was from USA.

"Hmm?" Ichika looked at her, "Nine, including my native," He replied as if it was nothing special.

"Am… Ahem…" Milla mumbled incoherently.

"We can discuss my linguistic skills later, now, Kushinada-san, please serve the ball," Ichika urged her.

"Ah, well," Kushinada shook her head to regain her mindset, "No matter how much language you know – they won't help you on court, Orimura-sama! Here I go!" She again jumped for the serve? And again – speed and angle – all was very good.

But Ichika seemed calm as ever, "А вот это мы еще посмотрим," He said quietly, using another foreign language as Charlotte again chased for a ball. [We'll see about that]

* * *

10 minutes later

 _'Is he for real'_ Thought one of girls that were spectating the match, _'Is that really a captain of middle school football team that won all three national tournaments in a row?'_

 _'No doubts that he's good,'_ Thought another girl, _'He's skilled and he sees court very good, but… nothing special…'_

No doubts, girls that were watching that match right now were expecting much more from such a famed person. Those who were expecting some spectacular show and/or Ichika's overwhelming victory probably were disappointed. On the other hand, girls from team that played against Ichika were in no position to complain – they were losing. They managed to score some points as well, but difference in score was growing, slowly but steadily…

"Nice pass, Ichika!" Charlotte shouted as she once again scored. Just now Laura intercepted the ball, Ichika got the rebound from her and passed ball on Charlotte, who successfully scored. And that's how it was since the beginning of the game – Ichika himself never scored even once. Only helping in defense sometimes, he let girls to do scoring and intercepting, as, despite that both girls were of relatively small height, physically they both were in excellent shape.

"Damn!" US Girl swore… "He's not even trying to play seriously! Just passing, nothing more…"

"Yeah, but even like that…" Kushinada agreed, she was breathing pretty heavily, "…we're losing…" Though, particular reason of their current situation was that Nohohon-chan, who could be counted as 0.5 of normal player at best.

"Oh, it seems you people are in trouble," Sharp voice said from behind. All who were nearby turned towards voice's source as one, excluding Ichika, who noticed his sister's approach long before that.

She's wearing a black swimsuit that only intensifies her aggressive sexuality, revealing all that should be revealed… and a bit of that shouldn't, but it wasn't vulgar, either. It looked like a mix between of swimwear, goth harness and BDSM attire, but unlike some girls around here, she definitely feels no embarrassment at all. That trained figure's being shown under the sun without any selfishness. Chifuyu's black, waist-long, gorgeous hairs were in perfect match.

Even though the hands on her waist aren't different from usual, there's a slight sense of sexiness the way it looks now. Not to mention she's got good looks, like a model. Compared to the other girls, she has an overwhelming victory over them.

If you look at this from a non-distorted point of view, the curves revealing those breasts are really ample. And this swimsuit emphasizes a lot on the bustline, so naturally, no surprise that many eyes were attracted by that.

"Andrés Sardá…" US Girl from opposite team sighed, looking at Chifuyu "…I saw it in catalogue, but such a thing is too daring for me… besides, it was too pricy…"

"Wow… Orimura-sensei… amazing…"

"Orimura-sensei's swimsuit is so daring… cool…"

"Ah… I want to become like that as well."

"I don't think you have any hope."

"How would you know if you don't try?"

The students were debating furiously, they were whispering of course but Ichika managed to lip-read their talking. "Excellent…" He said quietly, rubbing his hands.

Laura, as everyone else here, was astonished by looks of a woman that she idolizes, French girl, on the other hand, turned to Ichika. "Why is that you seem so satisfied, Ichika-san?" Charlotte asked suspiciously.

"Why shouldn't I?" He asked as if that was a question with obvious answer, "She's my sister and she looks astounding… that swimsuit is definitely worth those 540$ I spent for it," Ichika again nodded to himself with satisfaction.

Charlotte blinked twice. "You… you bought that?" She asked as if she lapsed into idiocy.

"Yeah, when I was in California," Ichika confirmed as if it was nothing special.

 _'What kind of relationships you two have?!'_ Blonde thought, moving her sight from brother to sister and back. _'That swimsuit…'_ She once again looked at Chifuyu _'…it fits her perfectly. Does he know all her dimensions?!'_

In the meantime, while all those girls were admiring Chifuyu, she approached the court. "Sensei, you wanna play with us?" US girl, Milla, asked.

"I wanted to enjoy this really pitifully little free time swimming in the sea…" Chifuyu replied, but then her sight met with her brother's "…but I won't mind a little warmup," She then nodded to the girl.

"Sensei~ I'll sub for you~" Girl in fox suit announced in her usual, slow manner. She passed the ball to Chifuyu as two other girl approached sensei to discuss the situation.

"Finally, I can play normally," Ichika said, warming his hands.

"What you mean, Ichika-sama?" Asked one of girls who were spectating the match.

"Isn't it obvious?" He replied. "Until now I was just passing the ball, if I was playing seriously it would be a one-sided game. But now, since she's on court… Hey, Hetare Sangō [Loser №3], Hetare Shigō [Loser №4], get out of your stupor and come here," He called for his teammates.

Seemingly, Charlotte was still shocked, trying to understand relationships between Orimura siblings and Laura was looking at Chifuyu as bewitched, but Ichika's voice returned them to reality. "Oh, stop trembling already," Ichika said a bit scornfully, as girls now looked a bit uncertain, which is understandable – they're now against Chifuyu Orimura herself, even if that's just a volleyball.

Ichika, on the other hand, don't seemed worried at all. "Of course, she's strong as demon, but, first – she won't be using her full strength for a mere game, and second… she has a weakness that we're going to exploit…" Ichika gave a predatory smile.

"A weakness?!" Two girls asked at the same time.

"Don't be so surprised," Ichika's looked at them with his heterochromic eyes, "No one's perfect… even though _she_ 's saying otherwise…" As ' _she_ ' he meant Tabane of course. Ichika lowered his voice, "Orimura-sensei has no idea how to play in team," He explained, "I.S. battle or simple sport game – her style by no means suited for the team work."

Indeed, being only twelve years old, Chifuyu became oldest in the family. Kind neighbors (i.e. Shinonono family), childhood friend (i.e. Tabane), it's all was good but… they were still strangers. To ensure her own and her younger brother survival she had to learn to rely only on herself, to believe only in her own powers (fortunately she had more than enough). But because of that she became a host in herself, and Ichika was intending to use that peculiarity.

Chifuyu prepared to serve the ball. Bam! Speed, angle, precision – all were by order of magnitude greater than of other girls. Still, Charlotte managed to catch the ball, and Ichika was already waiting for rebound. He jumped up, and this time it didn't seem like he is going to pass the ball, all looked like he's going for the score. Two girls from opposite team reacted quickly, preparing to defend. But, just as Ichika expected, Chifuyu, instead of letting girls to go for the ball and wait for rebound, she also dashed to that side of the court, thinking that they won't be able to defend from her brother's attack. Just as Ichika expected. At the last moment, he changed ball's direction and passed it to Laura, who stood right near the net.

German girl received the ball and send it to enemy's team side with very acute angle, securing the point, as even Chifuyu with her inhuman speed and agility couldn't cross the entire court in time to block that attack. _'Wow… what a wonderful pass…'_ Laura thought, she herself didn't expect that she will be able to score so nicely, _'Angle, timing… it landed to my hands perfectly…'_ Ichika's passes were pretty good before that, but comparing to this one they all were quite clumsy work…

 _'Damn…'_ Chifuyu swore, looking at her brother who just gave high-fives to his teammates, _'So that's how it is…'_ She understood that Ichika used his emperor's eye to score just now. First, he made sure that Chifuyu won't be able to return to net in time, predicting her movements, and then he used his eye on his own teammate to give a perfect pass, so Laura could attack without delay, _'He's not joking… And we all are wearing swimsuits… All our muscles are in full view… Very well… Then I'm not holding back!'_

Ichika noticed that glint of vehemence in his sister's eyes. "I see you're finally up to play seriously," His eyes flashed, "Then let's do this, sensei!"

* * *

15 minutes later.

 _'Damn, he's so strong… so this is the one who won all middle school championships for three years in a row, no doubts…'_ Kushinada thought.

 _'Are you kidding me?!'_ Milla thought, _'Even with Orimura-sensei at our side…'_

Indeed, even with Chifuyu playing seriously, difference in score wasn't shortening, in contrary, it even grew a bit more, 15-20 more minutes and it will end with Ichika team's certain victory.

And Chifuyu…

 _'What the hell?!'_ She didn't show any emotion, but, in fact, there was quite a mess in her head. _'Just when he became that powerful?! Since when I became so bad sister that I didn't even notice his growth?!'_ No, of course she saw all Ichika's victories in I.S. battles, but his I.S. had technical advantage in every battle, and his opponents were just coevals. But now he's against his elder sister and here are no I.S., only power of his emperor's eye and ability to use his teammate's abilities. Don't get it wrong – Chifuyu was very proud with her brother, but, on the other hand, in their personal adversary, she wasn't ready to lose to him, not yet, not now…

*Sigh* She made a deep breath. _'No doubts, you're powerful…'_ Chifuyu smiled, finally showing some emotion _'…but today, I'm not going to lose!'_

 _'What?!'_ Suddenly, Ichika physically felt tremendous increase of intensity of his sister's aura, _'Is she serious?!'_ At the same moment, Charlotte jumped up to serve the ball. "No, wait!" Ichika shouted, trying to stop his teammate, but that was too late, blonde already sent the ball over the net.

Everything happened within split second. Chifuyu dashed to the net and jumped up, and hit the ball. From aside it seemed as if volleyball turned into fireball when Chifuyu hit it. It flew over Ichika's head and landed accurate into court's very corner, even that he saw what's going to happen – he had no chance to intercept the ball. But probably most astonishing thing was Chifuyu's jump. It seemed like she didn't jump but flew up, her head was way above net, she reached height of at least ten feet, being only five feet six inches tall herself, she literally jumped over her head…

"What… was that…?"

"Incredible…"

"So… This is… Orimura Chifuyu…"

"Brunhilde…"

Spectators were tongue-tied, looking at Chifuyu in shock.

Ichika turned around and looked into the eyes of his sister. These eyes were sparkling… "Interesting…" He said with strange smile on his face, it's been a while since he saw Chifuyu in such a state. "So, you want to win that badly? _Archangel_ …?"

In that state, not only Chifuyu's speed became at least twice as much, now she could see entire court, including her teammates, so even being an individualist, she could let them defend some part of the field… And worst of all, Ichika could no longer deceive her with false hit direction. Until now, Ichika scored several points using his emperor's eye. He could predict Chifuyu's moves and send ball to opposite side, but now, with her powers fully awoken, she could start moving after he hit the ball, and still intercept it.

Chifuyu took the ball, preparing to serve. Jump! She hit the ball and once again it like turned into fireball. However, this time Ichika managed to intercept that due to distance and using his eyes capability. However, he didn't block, because Chifuyu already was in the middle of the court, it seemed like she was moving almost as fast as ball itself. Blocking would be dangerous as it would've returned the ball to Chifuyu. He saw that both Laura and Charlotte were dismayed.

"Laura!" Ichika shouted as he passed ball on her, "Pass the ball back to me!" He gave voice command, since now, with her _Archangel_ awakened, Chifuyu could easily read all their combinations nevertheless.

"Jawohl!" She carried out Ichika's order, though she did that automatically, as she had no idea what Ichika is intending to do.

Ball flew up, and Ichika jumped for it. Chifuyu took position near net as she saw that far side of the court is covered by her teammates. Ichika jumped up to hit the ball, and at that moment Chifuyu heard his voice. "Onee-sama… You're really magnificent… I don't think I can match for you yet… But I won't let you win that easily!" Chifuyu looked into brother's eyes and her own eyes widened as she realized what he's going to do – she left far side of the court to her teammates, but that was a mistake, and now was too late to fix that.

Ichika smashed the ball with full power of his robotic right arm. Ball flew like artillery shell and hit US girl, Milla, right into her solar plexus. "Guuh!" Girl screamed as ball hit her with tremendous force, literally smashing her into the ground. She fell on sand and almost lost her consciousness, as ball also fell on sand, thus Ichika get the point.

"Ichika-san?!" Charlotte exclaimed, looking at him in shock.

"Victory is everything in this world. Victor is acknowledged, vanquished is disavowed. Those who acts against me is never forgiven…" And as he said that, both Laura and Charlotte suddenly noticed something weird. Heterochromia of Ichika's eyes… it was no more! Usually his left eye was orange and right one was crimson, but now both his eyes were of the same, blood-red color, and glowing with golden light. It seemed like colors of his two eyes were mixed together and then distributed evenly. Besides, now some high iron notes were mixed into Ichika's voice.

It was a dumb scene as no one even knew what to say…

"It's our turn to serve…" Ichika turned to Laura, still speaking with that high iron voice.

"No," Chifuyu interfered, "That's enough, it's already past midday, hurry up and go have lunch!" Seemingly, elder sister decided to conclude this game. That feeling of unbound power from her disappeared.

"As you say, sensei," Ichika said simply and headed towards changing room, surprising all those around him – no arguing, no comments… no anything.

"Everyone, c'mon, go have lunch!" Chifuyu clapped her palms loudly, gaining attention.

"Wha… what about you, sensei?" One of girls asked uncertainly? Almost everyone around here was confused.

"I'm going to swim," Chifuyu replied shortly, and headed towards sea.

Still being heavily confused, girls headed towards restaurant, furiously discussing volleyball match they just saw and its very weird conclusion.

* * *

And that's it for chapter VIII, hope to see you soon people.

P.S. Don't be lazy, write a **review!**


	9. Restitution

Hello again people! Here I am with ninth chapter. Well, that was quite fast, isn't it, it took less than two weeks to write it. I suddenly got a surge of inspiration… Oh I wish I could get as much inspiration to update my other stories… I guess people waiting for an update for _Heir of the Exiled_ hate me already… I'm really sorry about that.

Now, some talk with those who wrote a **review**.

But first thing first. Okay people, you have convinced me – I've updated story's description relating its main character.

 **Imperial-samaB, DarkBladerZX, Telron, FateBurn:** Thanks people, here's another update.

 **xghosthunter115:** Okay, I'll look into it.

 **meirmamuka:** Well, first, thanks for big review. Second – my primary source of canon material are light novels, not anime. I'm not saying that anime's bad, it's fine… but novel is way better. And third… I don't really think that we can count Dan as full-fledged character here. I'd say we should consider Ichika as only male character in series.

* * *

 **Chapter IX – Restitution**

…

July 9th, about 7:30 PM.

Time passed, and it's now evening. Everyone's having their dinner in the large banquet hall that's composed of 3 halls linked together. Right now, all girls are dressed in a yukata. The rule within this resort seems to be that 'One has to wear yukatas while eating'. Well, who'd be arguing with that?

The first year students that are sitting neatly in rows are sitting on cushions. So of course, they're all sitting down in the seiza position. Everyone has a catering table in front of them.

Speaking of which, the students from I.S. Academy are from all over the world. Thus, there are students and teachers from all countries. The scenery in this banquet hall is as such; blonde girls, silver-haired girls, brown-skinned students, blue-eyed students... a whole assortment of races. It seems that this is the only place where one can feel that she just went around the whole world…

By the way, having considered the many nationalities, race and religions of the students, the school provided an eating area for the students who can't eat in a seiza position. As the meal trays are sorted according to the type of cuisine, so those who want their own food just need to take their own and consume it.

All freshmen from I.S. Academy were here… but of course, excluding him… Orimura Ichika like vanished. Nobody have seen him since that volleyball game. He went to the changing room and… disappeared.

Girls were lost in conjectures, as neither of them could say anything unequivocal.

* * *

July 9th, 8:05 PM.

Having taken a bath after the meal, Cecilia was happily changing clothes. Because she spent a lot of time 'preparing' before dinner, she was a bit late. However, while she was on her way towards restaurant, something unexpected happened. By pure accident, she ran right into Orimura Ichika, who was returning to his room after dinner.

To prevent Cecilia from screaming and questioning him in the middle of the corridor (which no doubts would've attracted a lot more people), Ichika sorta 'bribed' her, inviting her to his room for 'private conversation and something more'. That sounded like an enormous luck, so Cecilia decided to prepare accordingly.

She was wearing the yukata that resort provided, but the underwear under it was completely different. _'Ahh, just in case... the underwear I brought just in case can finally be used!'_ She thought in excitement.

Thinking till here, her expression became exceptionally gentle. Seeing that mysterious yet excited look on her, a certain classmate asked incredulously, "Did something good happen, Cecilia?"

"Nope, nothing," She replied, though her reply sounded more like a song.

"...That expression says otherwise, you know?" Another girl said with suspicious.

"Oh my, really? Ufufu," Blonde giggled happily.

"Sigh... never mind," Third girl sighed. "Ahh, it's rare to have a chance to prepare so much just to play with Orimura-sama, and yet he and Orimura-sensei are in the same room..."

"We can't possibly play now..." The other girls nodded in unison.

Incidentally, they had prepared games with poker cards, UNO cards, Hanafuda, the Game of Life and Twister – full set for which guys and girl could look forward to. It's amazing that even in the 21st century these games are still extremely popular.

 _'Oh my… You girls are so naïve,'_ Blonde smiled. She knew Ichika good enough to have clear understanding that there's no way he's going to play such games. _'Anyway, I don't need to play games at all tonight…'_ Cecilia hummed as she was blow-off drying her hair. Her wavering strands were two times more glamorous than usual.

"Ah… Your underwear is so sexy. It's so revealing…" Even though her eyes were half-open, the Nohohon-san's observation and perception skills were extremely great. On hearing her say that, even Cecilia felt a shock deep inside, because...

"What?! Somebody, help strip her!"

"Strip! Strip her off!"

"Make her leave everything behind!"

If three people gathered together can perform a skit, then with nine people you could perform three skits. Especially since everyone couldn't go and find their target, Ichika, to play with, they ended up having a lot of free time.

"Kyah! Stop! Stop it! Stop pulling! Ah!" Seeing the girls go crazy like this Cecilia could sense how energetic they really were.

"Wah?! That's some erotic underwear…"

"This is one for 'Moment of Truth'?!"

"What's this? Lucky underwear? We're unable to go to Orimura-sama's room, and yet you're wearing such a thing!?"

The girls started chatting away, before they finally declared in unison, """CECILIA'S SO LEWD!"""

"I'm… I'm not! This, this is, just preparations for the occasion... Yes, for the occasion!" Cecilia pulled on her now ruffled yukata and argued back while blushing, praying silently to herself that the fact that she would be going to Ichika's room alone won't be revealed.

"Speaking of which, you were pretty thorough in your bathing…"

"And after bathing, you put on make-up for some reason…"

"That's rather suspicious, you know?"

Girls continued to discuss Cecilia's actions, glancing at blonde.

"That's-that's not suspicious! Girls should be aware of the occasion! I still have things to do!" After saying some mood-killing words, Cecilia stood up. _'I have to make a move first! I'll win once I step out of this room! Just when she thought that...'_

"Un? Hmm? This isn't the perfume Cecilia normally uses. This fragrance is Clive Christian No. 1? Wha… that's pretty high class…" After the Nohohon-san said that, the girls' expression froze.

 _'Oh no!'_ It was too late, the moment Cecilia thought this, the girls began to hassle her and ask.

"Clive Christian No. 1? I heard that one bottle costs more than 100,000 yen for 100ml bottle, is that true!?" [About £850, in fact]

"They only produce 100 bottles of it every year, and there's even a serial number!"

"Do you have the product with you? Show me!"

Blonde was surrounded and cornered.

"O-Okay, it's alright to show you. Anyway, I'll go off first…" Cecilia tried to escape, but of course…

"""NO WAY!""" Girls screamed in unison.

 _'Ehh…'_ Cecilia muttered deep inside, but the girls grabbed her hand really tightly, making her to be unable to get away.

"Where did you buy this? Didn't I hear that it's hard to buy even with money?" One of girls asked.

"Our family has relations with the Clive Christian..." Cecilia replied with plaintive voice.

"Uwa! Isn't Cecilia super rich!?"

"Let me have a whiff!"

"Ah, erm, if you like it, you can use it however you want. As for me, I'll leave first..." Cecilia once again tried to buy out her escape, but…

"""NO WAY!"""

 _'Ehhh'_ Poor girl began to lose hope…

"That's a waste!"

"If Cecilia applied it, we will just smell your body! Okay?!"

"Yeah! C'mon!"

The girls immediately opened their arms wide and rushed over. Cecilia had a bad feeling as she continued to back away until she hit the wall.

"Fufufu, we're not letting you get away."

"Alright, just surrender quietly!"

"Very good… very good…"

The girls slowly closed in with their eyes shining mysteriously.

"No, no, NOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

July 9th, about 8:15 PM.

In the meantime, Ichika just came from dinner. No, he didn't get another sudden invitation to participate in military training or something, he just had no desire to see any of those mollies, and fortunately there were a lot of places to 'hide' in this resort. He accidentally ran into Cecilia, but he managed to came out lightly. Nevertheless, probably the best place to hide was "devil's lair" – Chifuyu's room, which Ichika was sharing with his elder sister.

He had his lunch and dinner in VIP dining hall, in company of resort's administrator. He even had no need to use his **realizer** , his hypocrisy and devilish charms were more than enough to get both lunch and dinner in VIP hall, and he even was treated with meals of his favorite eastern-european cuisine.

Just as he returned from dinner, Ichika summoned his plasma machinegun, **Equalizer** , and now he was tinkering with it.

Door to suit's bathroom opened and Ichika's elder sister, Orimura Chifuyu, entered the room. "Huh? You're alone? You didn't bring any girl with you and instead you're tinkering with this thing again? How uninteresting," She said with disappointment. Even for Ichika it wasn't easy to see through his sister's emotions, so it was hard to say – was she really disappointed or just kidding.

"I'm glad to see that you're in good mood, Onee-san," Ichika smiled a little. Bring girl over here? This room is still the Orimura-sensei's room. Once someone does something suspicious, it's unknown what fate will befall them. By the way, since Chifuyu just took a bath her hairs were all wet. Even though she's Ichika's sister, even he couldn't overlook those overly glamorous black hair that shone beautifully.

"Call me Orimura-sensei," She glared at Ichika sharply.

"Oh, come off it," Younger brother waved her off, "It's already past 8 PM, in all respects workday is over, and there's only the two of us left anyway…"

"Whatever…" Chifuyu sighed as she sat on her bed.

"It seems even onsen bath didn't let you relax properly," Ichika noted, his emperor's eye could see the stiffness of sister's muscles even through her bathrobe.

"Hmpf," Elder sister snorted. "As if it even possible to relax with you around. If I let my guard down for at least a second, you'll cripple someone for sure…"

"Hey, don't be such a meanie," Ichika rolled his eyes, "I went a bit overboard, I know, I'm sorry, okay? Crippling your teammates just to secure victory in such a meaningless game was too much…"

"Damn…" Chifuyu shook her head, "Why didn't I take my winter clothes… Orimura Ichika apologized… It definitely will be snowing tomorrow…" No matter what people would think – Chifuyu possess pretty sharp tongue.

"Right…" Ichika sighed. He touched his machinegun and it disappeared into quantum space, then he came to his bag and took out a glass phial with some thick liquid inside. "Okay, lay down, I'll help you relax, in the end this is resort, and we haven't done it for a long time…"

"No, it's definitely going to snow tomorrow…" Chifuyu shook her head as she understood that Ichika's offering her a massage. However, she untied her bathrobe and lowered it, as she laid on her bed facedown, so her back now was completely exposed, only her butt was covered somehow.

Ichika sat near her and began to warm up his palms with massage oil. "Yeah, you're really stiff…" Ichika noted as he touched sister's shoulders, "Handling those girls really puts a lot of strain on you…"

"Hmpf," Elder sister snorted again, but this time it meant agreement. "However," She added after few seconds, "It would be less stressful if I wouldn't have to care about this insane brother… I can die just if I open the wrong bag by incident, you know…"

"Don't strain at a gnat," Ichika replied.

"Of course, that was such a trifle…" Chifuyu said sarcastically. "By the way, what was that thing anyway?"

" **M.T.D.I.T**?" Ichika asked. "Matter to Digital Information Transductor, as I said, a possible replacement for quantum transfer technology. However, it is the very early prototype, it has neither storage module nor data reconstruction device, right now it has only one functional part – digital deconstructor. Have no doubts – this morning you've saved Maya's life – wouldn't you interfere – she'd turned into digital dust… by the way, I guess we'll have to pay for that chair that was disassembled…"

"Mmmm…" Chifuyu mumbled something incoherent through pillow, probably that should mean that it was Ichika's fault and he has to pay himself.

Ichika ignored her words as he slowly began to rub oil into sister's skin, "Poor Maya… she's too impressionable…"

"Ichika," Elder sister raised her head a bit so she could speak normally, "How many times I should tell you that you shouldn't treat her like that? She's your teacher, like it or not."

"If she doesn't want to be treated like common schoolgirl, she should stop acting like one," Ichika replied. Chifuyu narrowed her eyes, so Ichika decided to clarify his statement. "No, onee-san, I understand your desire and reasons to make her look like a real teacher, but I'm afraid that your efforts actually bring the opposite results…"

"And how is that?" Elder sister asked.

"Well, how should I put it…" Ichika thought for a moment. "For believers, clergyman is the one who shows them the canons of their religion, so he has some degree of respect. However, in front of God himself that clergyman ain't more than common believer. Maybe my example isn't too good, but I believe it reveals the crux of the problem."

Ichika took a bit more of oil and continued to rub it along sister's spine, "For those girls you are an idol, perfection. In their eyes, comparing to you, not just Maya but all teachers in this academy are just like common schoolgirls, you outshine them all. Yamada-sensei's situation is worst because she's closest to your blinding light, as her own light is quite dim, even you can't argue with that."

"Of course I can't impose my opinion on you, I'm just saying that you shouldn't bother yourself with that," Ichika couldn't settle down, "You're outmatches all and every woman, and there's nothing you can do about that, Onee-sama," Ichika intentionally used extremely respectful honorific, without any notes of sarcasm, "Your beauty's astounding and incomparable, but that's not what really important… All those girls and women, they lack that "goddess' presence" you possess. Haven't you noticed, Onee-sama? When you're walking – wind stops blowing to not disturb your hair. When you approach – birds stop singing as they're afraid that their singing is inferior for your ears…"

Chifuyu plunged her face into pillow as she sighed powerlessly. _'That little crafty scoundrel… I don't know about his eyes but he surely learnt how to glib…'_ As he complimented his sister like that, Ichika at the same time cornered her, preventing any further attempts to advertise other women. Indeed, if she'd try to argue about that, after those words he just said, she'd only make herself look foolish.

* * *

"Uh, uh..." Cecilia moaned, "That was too much..." Having been harassed badly by the other girls, Cecilia looked thoroughly worn out as she walked along the corridor.

 _'But at last, I can finally… Go to Ichika's room!'_ Thinking about this, all the damage and fatigue she suffered up till now disappeared in a puff of smoke, and the ruffled yukata recovered in just a few seconds.

'Hmm… I think I need to adjust my voice too…' Her excitement caused her to walk like the breeze, moving faster like she was dancing as she moved towards her destination.

However… She suddenly saw two girls in front of one of hotels' room.

"Rin-san? Houki-san? What are you two…" She tried to ask.

""Shh!"" Two girls immediately shushed at her as Rin pointed at tablet on door. It contained occupants' names:

織斑 千冬 [Orimura Chifuyu]

織斑 一夏 [Orimura Ichika]

Seeing this, Cecilia immediately quieted down. Not understanding what was going on, she suddenly heard voices from behind the door.

"Onee-san, you're too tense… It's all because you haven't done it for a long time… Hmm, we shall do it more often," Ichika's voice said.

"Gladly, but someone prefers to spend time with his toys… Umm! Ah, don't be that forceful..." That voice definitely belongs to Chifuyu.

"Endure, it should be okay after few more moves…"

"Oh! Ichika, be a little gentler, will you?"

"Alright, alright… Let's try it this way then, how about… there?"

"Ah! Th… There, there's... uh, no good! Ah!"

"Lay still, you'll be comfortable soon. There's quite a bit of fatigue you've accumulated..."

"AHHH!"

* * *

"Wh… Wha… What's going on...?" With her mouth trembling, Cecilia forced a smile as she asked. However, she only got the silent response of the other two. Rin and Houki looked dead serious like they hadn't slept for the entire night. Well, Chifuyu's moans were somehow lustful, to be honest.

Then…

"Hold on a moment, Ichika," Chifuyu's voice sounded a bit different from before.

"What? Their imagination ran too wild?" Ichika's voice asked with some ironic notes.

The conversation between siblings was interrupted. Just as the three people with their ears at the door felt that it was weird…

*PAM!* The door got punched without warning.

"""HEEK!""" The moment the door got hit, the three teenage girls shouted out in reflex.

"What are you idiots doing?" _Chifuyu no Akima_ [Devil Chifuyu] asked with sharp voice as three girls were literally kneeling in front of her.

"Ha, haha, well, we..."

"Good evening, Orimura-sensei..."

"Bye... bye bye, Orimura-sensei!"

The trio intended to escape like rabbits, but got caught immediately. Rin and Houki got caught by the collars, and Cecilia got stepped on the yukata. It looked just like three accursed souls tried to escape from Cerberus… poor them…

"I can't allow eavesdropping!" Chifuyu stated, glaring at trembling girls. "…But since you're here, come in."

"""WHAAT!?""" The unexpected words caused the trio to widen their eyes in shock.

"Ahhh, yes, the other two…" Chifuyu looked somewhere aside, "Call Bodewig and Dunois here."

"Ye… Yes!" The moment the back of their collars got released, Rin and Houki immediately ran off to call two aforementioned persons. In the meantime, with the hem of her yukata removed, Cecilia adjusted it and walked into the room.

"So, you need a bit of eavesdropping to turn on, Cecilia? Well, who I am to discuss others preferences, come over here, let's get it started," Ichika slapped the bed, indicating to Cecilia to get on.

In contrast, Cecilia was blushing in embarrassment due to such a bold request, "Huh, ahh, isn't Orimura-sensei still here? This..."

"What are you waiting for? I'm warmed up already, let's get started," Ichika replied as if there was nothing wrong with that.

"No, not that, but, this, is, the mood..." Cecilia's face was all red.

Ichika perfectly knew why blonde's acting like that, and that's why it was so fun to play this game further. He then patted the bedsheet again to prompt her to be faster.

Feeling really bothered, Cecilia secretly glanced at Chifuyu, who just stood there, as if it's quite normal, "Don't mind me, just start," She said.

Seemingly, elder sister really managed to relax due to good massage Ichika just gave her, thus she was in really good mood, so good that she even decided to play along and help her brother to tease poor blonde, who now was burning with embarrassment, _'How, how can I not be bothered by this!?'_

However, she couldn't decide. But, since Chifuyu seemed to have called for Charlotte and Laura to come over as well, things would only get worse if she dragged this on. _'Alright! Women must be forceful!'_ After screaming this in her heart, Cecilia gave up as she sat on the bedsheet. Her crazily-beating heart sounded like it could explode any second soon. Cecilia's heart was full of anticipation and anxiety as she closed her eyes… But nothing happened.

Ahh...? Just when she felt that this was weird and opened her right eye slightly, Ichika said, "Cecilia, if you don't lie down, I can't do that."

"Huh? Huh? Do… Do it... lying down?" Blonde asked, stuttering.

"Yup, let's start from classics," Ichika confirmed with somehow encouraging voice.

"I… I see..." Even though Cecilia felt bothered that it was different from what she read on the books, she still convinced herself that this was a normal thing in Japan.

"Alright, I'm starting," Ichika announced.

"Oh… Okay!" Girl prepared for the inevitable.

The sudden break in voice caused her to be embarrassed and anxious. Cecilia's heart started to beat crazily until she felt that it was about to pounce out as she waited for the incoming hand. Then…

"Hmm, aha, here..." Ichika said quietly.

"Owww… It hurts! I-I-Ichika-san! Ouch! Wha… What are you doing?! Auu!" Girl screamed several times.

"What am I doing? A massage," Ichika replied as if it was quite obvious.

"Mas... sage...?" Blonde stuttered.

"Yup, at the waist," Ichika confirmed.

"Waist..." Cecilia looked stunned as she repeated what Ichika said like a parrot. "Erm… Ichika-san, did you invite me to your room for this..."

"Yup. I just wanted to give you a massage. You're living in a large room, right, Cecilia? I can't focus if that was the case, so I called you here," He explained, still continuing to play innocent.

*KAUR* It felt like a crow flew by from above as Cecilia started crying inside her heart.

"That… That was bad... I..." Her voice cracked as if she was about to cry.

"Hmm? What is it? Was it that painful?" Ichika wondered. Cecilia couldn't see it but his eyes were glowing now.

"Yeah, it hurts... It hurts so badly that I feel like I will die..." Blonde moaned.

"Oh, I'm sorry then… I'll go lighter a bit…" Ichika said, though he understood exactly what she meant.

"Anything will do..." Cecilia sighed deeply, deeper than the darkness, that even the souls got sighed away as she had the look of fatigue, despair, cool and self-depreciation. But the comfort of the massage and her conversation with Ichika caused her mood to naturally improve.

"Will this force do?" Ichika wondered as he continued to massage her, though, unlike he was doing it with Chifuyu, that was dry massage, without oil, and he was doing it through yukata.

"Mnn... feels great..." She whispered. Ichika pressed against her back with his thumbs as he started massaging on both left and right sides.

"Speaking of which, your waist's really stiff. What do you normally do, Cecilia?" Ichika asked.

"Ah, well, I do play the violin, but only occasionally. It… It feels a bit bad there..." Blonde replied.

"Ah, I see. Then I'll do it a bit differently…" Ichika noted to himself as he relaxed his thumbs and silently exerted force on his palms. He's not using his thumbs as a pressure point, but using his palms to relax Cecilia's body with suitable force. Soon, that touch became a stable feeling, causing her to moan out in comfort.

"Haa... Ichika-san really is skillful..." Cecilia whispered.

"And why you're so surprised? I'm pretty skillful with lot of things," Ichika said as if it should be obvious.

"...No doubts..." Though she sounded like she was grumbling, Cecilia just muttered that at a volume Ichika couldn't hear. Maybe it was because the massage made her feel good. Her voice did not carry any anger, instead bringing a cute feeling of 'Wanting fawn and wanting to make the other person feel troubled'.

"Alright, now I'll push up the backbone then," Ichika warned.

"Okay… I'll leave it to you then…" Feeling really happy and comfortable with the massage now, Cecilia felt like sleeping as she answered in a dazed manner.

"Any place you want me to exert more strength?"

"Fufu, I'll leave it to you then..."

"Okay then. Let me check here first," The range of massaging wasn't just limited to the top of the back as Ichika exerted force on both sides. He rubbed his palms and gently knocked on her. This method can remove muscle stiffness and making people feel like sleeping.

Massaging Cecilia, Ichika said, _'A good massage will make people want to sleep, and it will be extremely good if you immediately sleep, as the fatigue will be inexplicably removed from you'._ Those words were true.

Massages with only pain are basically torture and interrogation. Only when the body and soul feels relaxed completely can it be considered a complete massage. A real, high quality massage can relax the body, and more importantly, the soul.

 _'Mn... I really... feel like sleeping...'_ Cecilia thought that with the now empty mind of hers, and now that idea gradually disappeared. Suddenly, she felt a male's scent on the bedsheet she's lying on. This is Ichika's scent, who's sitting beside her, causing her heart to beat wildly again.

 _'Such a wonderful smell…'_ She never paid attention to this before, but it seems Ichika actually uses some high-class cologne… Just when the half-awake Cecilia was about to fall asleep with the scent, suddenly…

*Grope!*

"AH!?" As her arms got grabbed suddenly, Cecilia's seemingly sleeping state got woken up immediately.

 _'I-I-Ichika-san!? Eve… Even if it's a massage? That… That's too daring...!'_ She thought as she used her right hand to press onto her wildly beating heart and turned around while trembling… but it wasn't Ichika's hands.

"You… You precocious brat," Chifuyu grabbed onto Cecilia's butt without mercy as she revealed a playful look of one whose prank had succeeded. However, that look didn't look apologetic or innocent, but one with ill-intent. "Wearing such underwear that really doesn't match your age. And it's black, too."

"Huh... KYAAAAAHHHH!?" Blonde screamed as Chifuyu grabbed Cecilia's butt from below, the round buttocks got revealed by the yukata that flipped up. Of course, the underwear on the inside got seen. It was a laced 'special underwear' with extremely little cloth. Both sides were tied using strings, and it looked like it was designed to be taken off easily.

"Oh, for real?" Ichika said as he was impudently looking at Cecilia's exposed butt. "So you've came here with *those* intentions? Oh, I'm very sorry that I misunderstood your desires, mon cherry, but one of my traits is that I can quickly adapt to changing situations, I'm sure you're well aware of that. Shall I start with removing these with my teeth?" He asked, clearly meaning Cecilia's laced panties.

Hearing his question, Cecilia understood clearly that 'she got exposed', and felt so embarrassed that she wanted to find a hole to hide in and stay there forever. "Sen… Sensei! Please let go of me!" She shouted out while blushing furiously, but unexpectedly, Chifuyu just let go like this.

"Oh my, to think that you would expect to do such an erotic thing in front of a teacher. You 15-year-old girl," Chifuyu shook her head.

"E-ER-ERO-EROTIC...!?" Cecilia screamed in panic.

"I'm just kidding," Chifuyu laughed at blonde again, before making a deep breath, "Hey, the four people outside, time to get in here!" She called for four girls that actually arrived a while ago. After a few seconds of silence, the door opened. Standing at the door were Rin, Houki, Charlotte and Laura. They're all wearing the yukatas provided by the resort. "Okay, you girls go get a place to sit," Seeing Chifuyu greet them, the four girls walked into the room with a look of terror. They then followed orders and looked for their favorite seats, though here's only two beds and few chairs. "You had enough of massaging, right, Ichika?" Elder sister asked.

"Well, physically I'm not tired at all, but mentally… with the crowd you've assembled here I can't continue," Ichika replied.

"What, you don't know where to look first?" Chifuyu asked with cunning smile.

"Oh, believe me, Onee-san, I do," Ichika replied without delay, looking straight at sister.

"You're rather straightforward," Chifuyu facepalmed.

"Can't you just enjoy the compliment once in a while, Onee-san?" Ichika shook his head

"Who knows?" Elder sister shrugged.

Hearing both of them chat away happily, everyone present finally realized one thing that actually should be completely obvious. They are elder sister and her beloved younger brother…

Anyway, what they just eavesdropped on Cecilia's voice and Chifuyu's voice from before were because of the massage.

"Ha, ha ha..."

"I-I-I knew about this already..."

Houki relaxed completely, yet Rin just argued back.

Having imagined all sorts of 'explicit things', Charlotte and Laura blushed as they looked down.

"Anyway," Ichika addressed all who were present here, "Having so many people around me in such a small place exceeds my zone of comfort a bit… There's another person around here somewhere, which I didn't see in a while, I'll go look for _her…_ " As he said that, Ichika's body was engulfed with light particles as his resort-provided yukata was replaced with Japanize Navy Lt.-Commander's field uniform and he went to the balcony.

"Hey, don't you dare to wake me up when you return!" Chifuyu warned him as Ichika jumped over balcony's fence and disappeared.

Just as Ichika vanished, the five girls who were ordered to sit down didn't dare to move at all. "Hey hey, is this the watching of a funeral? What happened to that usual noisy atmosphere?" Chifuyu asked, though she actually was well aware of that girls were feeling themselves… uncomfortable, to say the least.

"No, it's not that, but..." Houki mumbled.

"Talk… Talking to Orimura-sensei like this. Well, how should I say it..." Charlotte said, stuttering.

"It's the first time anyway..." Cecilia muttered.

"Really, it can't be helped then. I'll treat all of you to drinks then. What do you want, Shinonono?" Chifuyu announced, heading to fridge.

Being called out suddenly, Houki's shoulders trembled as she felt bothered about being unable to answer immediately. Just when everyone was hesitating, Chifuyu opened the fridge of the resort room and took out five bottles of different kind of cool refreshments.

"Here, ramune, orange juice, sports drink, coffee and red tea. If you want to drink something else, just exchange around," Even though she said that, the girls took the respective drinks. Houki, Charlotte, Rin, Laura and Cecilia felt satisfied with their drinks, so they didn't exchange it.

"Thanks… Thanks for the patronage…" Everyone said in unison and started drinking.

Seeing the rumbling on the girls' throats, Chifuyu smiled, "You drank it?"

"Ye… Yes?"

"We… We did..."

"Wha… What did you put inside?"

Asking that, all girls were seemed frightened.

"Idiots, stop being so rude. It's nothing much, I just want to bribe you anyway," After saying that, Chifuyu took out a canned beer with a star logo from the fridge. With the crisp sound of the can being opened, the beer foam bubbles spurted out. Chifuyu just gulped it down in one shot. "Ah… nice…" She said with satisfaction. Everyone present just looked dumbstruck as Chifuyu looked seemingly satisfied as she sat on the bedsheet. "Well, I wanted to share a bit with Ichika... but it seems he's not interested."

"Sensei… I thought we're not allowed to hang around after retreat…" Houki asked uncertainly (and she looked a bit unhappy) as she guessed that Ichika went to look for her own elder sister.

"My workday is long over by now, and chasing him around entire island by no means are my duties," Chifuyu waved her off. This person in front of five girls now is completely different from the lawful and ridiculously strict 'Orimura-sensei', causing the girls to be dumbstruck, especially Laura, who continued to blink her eyes like mad as if she couldn't believe what she's seeing right now. "Stop giving me that weird look! I'm an ordinary person, of course I would drink beer! Do I look like I drink machine oil?" Chifuyu seemed annoyed a bit.

"No, no, it's not that..."

"It's not..."

"But, right now..."

"Aren't you working now...?"

Laura just left her mouth wide open, unable to say anything, and then gulped down the black coffee in her hand.

"Don't be so strict! As I told you – my workday is over, besides, I just bribed you people anyway." Chifuyu revealed a heinous grin as she looked around at everyone's hand. At this moment, the girls finally realized the meaning behind the drinks as they let out an 'Ah'.

"That's it for the opening. Now to the main point," Chifuyu wanted Laura to get her a second can of beer. With the crisp sound of the can being opened again, she continued, "I say, what's so good about that guy?" Even though Chifuyu said 'That guy', everyone present knew who she's referring to. The only 'him' – Ichika. "He's disingenuous and cruel, he gave all of you disgusting nicknames… and yet you all here.

"I… I'm not really that interested in him... it's just that I feel angry that he's no longer care about anything but his I.S. and stuff," Drinking the ramune, Houki said.

"Just a little fate..." Rin mumbled while rubbing her sports drink can.

"As the class representative, I just want him to buck up," Completely different in attitude now, Cecilia boasted proudly.

"Oh, is that so? I'll just tell Ichika what you've said then," Chifuyu said casually.

Chifuyu's casual words scared the trio as they all screamed in unison, "PLEASE DON'T SAY IT OUT!"

Seeing them like this, Chifuyu laughed and took another gulp of beer.

"I… well, I... like his confidence, so..." Charlotte muttered softly, yet it sounded firm.

"Oh? But don't you think that such a level of confidence is more like arrogance?" Chifuyu asked.

"Tha… That's right... which is why I hate it... He can easily make a girl embarrassed but seems that he himself has no idea what embarrassment actually is…" She revealed an embarrassed smile as she fanned her burning cheeks. The trio before Charlotte stared at her, seemingly feeling envious.

Chifuyu, however, gave Charlotte a weird sight, just for a moment. In fact, elder sister knew that her younger brother actually did learn about embracement one day, sadly, thanks to her.

* * *

 **Flashback**

It happened about a week after she returned from Germany and she and Ichika again were living under the same roof. During this week, Chifuyu was coming home pretty late – apparently, she just got her job as I.S. academy instructor. But that day was Sunday, and Chifuyu was at home. Unlike her brother – final of junior high school football tournament was near, so Ichika's team was training even during Sundays.

As he returned, Ichika walked up the stairs and headed straight to his sister's room. While she was in Germany, Ichika used her room as a storage room for his sport equipment. Being deeply in his thoughts, Ichika automatically opened door to his sister's room and already raised his arm with intention to throw his backpack with football, football boots and uniform on Chifuyu's bed before he realized that this bed is actually occupied. As common people would say – he caught his sister during the process of self-satisfaction…

Don't get it wrong – brilliant-minded boy knew perfectly that she's doing that regularly. His sister was a young woman in full bloom, no doubts she has very high sexual temperament, and she has no boyfriend, so there were no other possibilities. So, Ichika knew that she's doing _that_ and Chifuyu knew that he knows that she's doing _that_ , and none of them was bothered about this situation.

But when Ichika accidentally barged into sister's room right in the middle of the process… well, that was one of those very rare occasions when he regretted about having emperor's eyes, which immediately grasped entire situation with slightest details: clamps on sister's nipples, one on each one; four clamps on her pussy lips, two per each; butt plug in her asshole; with all that, she was moving vibrator in and out of her pussy with her right hand, at the same time using her left hand to squeeze her own throat, strangling herself.

Of course Ichika retreated from sister's room immediately. Actually, that incident didn't cause any real issues in relationships between siblings, they both just silently agreed that it never happened, but… As it was said, Ichika knew what his sister doing, but seeing it live… besides, he learned about Chifuyu very specific predilections… Well, in overall, that was quite embarrassing, even for people like Ichika and Chifuyu. After that incident Ichika installed a new door-handle with lock into Chifuyu room's door and gave her the only key, just in case…

 **Flashback end**

* * *

Returning to current events, there only one girl remained who didn't say anything about Ichika. "What about you?" Chifuyu asked the silent Laura. Laura jerked, probably not expecting to be called up.

Yet she found it in herself to reply, "May… Maybe because he's strong..."

"Is that so?" Chifuyu snorted. "Well, he's strong, I can't argue with that. But he's also insolent, conceited and merciless. Besides, he's a veritable sadist, so love for pain would be a great advantage if you want to pick his interest… You've learned about that on your own hide, ain't you?"

All five now were looking at Chifuyu as a dumbstruck. "Don't get me wrong," Elder sister decided to clarify, "Personally, as an elder sister, I have nothing to complain about. He always was reliable, he was taking care of our house virtually alone, he can cook… and his massages are great. Isn't that right, Alcott?" Being questioned, Cecilia blushed as she looked down and nodded her head gently. "He was earning money using internet since he was five years old…" Chifuyu added, as she finished off the second beer can in her hand "…and it's simply needless to say anything about his school grades – there always were only '100'."

Rin and Houki looked at each other – both girls were well aware of that.

"Quote: 'Romantic love doesn't exist…" Chifuyu began to cite someone, bringing the third can of beer to her mouth "…So called 'romantic' relationships can only be nice and stable if they are mutually beneficial, just like any other kind of relationships, otherwise they are doomed…' End of quote," Chifuyu took another gulp of beer. All five girls looked at her in confusion. "About eight years ago, we were in supermarket. Ichika was staring at couple, which was buying some stuff. As they left he stated that soon that couple is going to fall apart, and then said the phrase that I just cited."

Now all five were looking at Chifuyu with some desperate expressions. No surprise, considering what they just heard… "It seems he's really hard to get, does he?" Elder sister narrowed her eyes. "So what? Are you going to give up on him after all you've just heard?"

All girls shook their heads. It is hard to say how exactly they were intending to handle Ichika, probably none of them actually thought about that seriously, but they definitely weren't ready to give up.

"Good," Chifuyu smiled, "Anyway, I know the kind of girl that just may pick up his interest. So? Do you want to know the details?" She asked.

Everyone looked up. Laura asked timidly, "Are you going to tell us?"

"Idiots, you really think I will give him away just like that?", Chifuyu again smiled maliciously.

 _'Ehhh...'_ The girls moaned in their hearts.

"As women how can you lack will when fighting for a guy? Work harder brats, and try to get to my level!" Bringing the fourth can of beer to her mouth, Chifuyu looked delighted as she said that.

…

July 10th, 8:05 AM.

It's the second day of training camp, and today, I.S. academy students are going to carry out testing of all sorts of I.S. equipment and data collection. As for those with personal machines, they received a lot of specialized packages, so called 'boosters', from their I.S. manufacturers, and now they have to try out all those packages in an unrestricted environment, so this day's going to be quite busy. As for Ichika, he was intending to observe all that testing – maybe he'll be able to learn something useful. Besides, there's another event is going to happen…

"Is everyone here? Hey, the latecomer over there!" Chifuyu called for a certain girl.

"Ye… Yes!" Unexpectedly, the one who cringed when Orimura-sensei called her was Laura. It seems she got up late, a rare feat for her, and got to the gathering point 5 minutes late.

"In that case, explain the I.S. Core Network," Chifuyu asked a control question.

"O… Okay! The I.S. core network uses all sorts of signals to exchange data. It was originally designed to send the location information in vast space. Right now, it allows the pilots to communicate with each other through public and private channels. Also, through recent researches, the core attracts all sorts of signals through a 'sharing' method as fuel to evolve. As the I.S. creator Professor Shinonono viewed these as a part of evolution, she allowed them to develop continuously, so right now, they're still under development, resulting in an incomplete grasp of the whole picture," Laura reported. Well, such an answer should be expected from Chifuyu's personal trainee.

"Outstanding as always. I'll let you off for being late then," Orimura-sensei said with forgiving tone.

On hearing Chifuyu's say that, Laura heaved a sigh of relief. Looking at silver-haired girl, Ichika even smiled a little, as poor girl was patting herself on the chest to comfort herself... _'Interesting, that girl was onee-san's trainee for a year, has she lived with that feeling of unspeakable terror of Chifuyu during all that time?'_ Ichika asked himself.

"Alright. Each class is to carry their stuff to begin the I.S. packages testing," Chifuyu announced, looking around. "Those with personal suits are to test the personal packages. Everyone, move fast."

Everyone answered 'yes'. As all the first years are lined up in a straight line, there are lot of students. On a side note, I.S. testing is happening on the beach. The surroundings are extremely high cliffs, so if there's a need to go to the sea, one has to go underwater and through a water tunnel. It really looked like some underwater filming for a movie.

The I.S. units and equipment that has to be used for testing is gathered here for this purpose. Of course, since all students have to pilot I.S, they all are wearing their I.S. suits. It feels like some sort of swimsuit competition at the seaside.

"Ah, Shinonono, come over here," Chifuyu called for Houki.

"Yes," Houki, who was using the **Uchigane** unit to carry something, heard Chifuyu's call and turned towards sensei.

"From today onwards, you'll be piloti…"

"CHHHHHIIIIIII~CHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN~!" Sudden, hysterical scream almost tore sky apart. As a cloud of sand and dust gathered, a figure came flying over at a very fast speed, making a lot of noise. Maybe she has an I.S. on her? No, she doesn't have anything – emperor's eye confirmed that. Though the problem's that person is…

"...Tabane…" Chifuyu said with the voice of doomed one.

That's how it is. That peerless genius Shinonono Tabane just ignored the restriction of the zone completely and came barging in just like that. "As if you're actually surprised, Orimura-sensei," Ichika noted, facepalming.

"Yaa Yaa! I really missed you Chi-chan! Let's hug to show our love… fuheh!" Tabane's words turned into something undiscernible as Chifuyu held her down, when Tabane came flying over, with one hand, grabbing onto her face too as sensei's fingers sank mercilessly into the flesh. Chifuyu really doesn't know how to show mercy.

"Shut up, Tabane," Chifuyu growled. Actually, she's amazing for being able to clamp down Tabane just like that.

"Mmmn... your iron claw's as merciless as ever!" After shouting out lightly, Tabane-san now turned to Houki. "Yaa!" She shouted joyfully.

"...Hello," Houki grunted in reply.

"Hehehe, long time no see. How long have we not met? A few years? Houki-chan has really grew up, especially the breasts…" Tabane jumped towards her sister with obvious intention to grab her breasts.

*BAAM!* Houki hit her elder sister, "I'll beat you up!"

"You've already beaten me up... and with a Japanese sword sheath! That's too mean! Houki-chan's so mean!" Pressing her head, Tabane looked teary eyed as she complained. Everyone present just looked at that exchange.

"Huh, well, well, people other than the ones involved are not…" Maya Yamada tried to intervene.

"Hmm? What you're saying is really weird. If you're talking about I.S. related personnel, I'm the most, most important person now!" Tabane stated without hesitation.

"Huh, ah, so, yeah, so, I guess that's right..." Yamada-sensei got shot down beautifully. Basically, there's nothing anyone can do as they just let her on a roll.

"Hey! Tabane! At least Introduce yourself, my students don't know what's going on," Chifuyu demanded.

"Huh… That's so troublesome..." Tabane sighed with boredom, but then she turned to other students, "Hello, I'm the genius Tabane-san! That's all from me!"

After saying that, she jumped on a small rock and even made a spin around. At this moment, everyone present seem to finally realize that this is the genius scientist who developed the I.S., and the girls started to chat.

"Haa... can't you even introduce yourself properly?" Chifuyu sighed heavily, "Hey, first-years, why are you stopping? Ignore this person here and continue testing."

"That's too much, calling me 'this person'…" Tabane mumbled resentfully. "Can't you call me 'my beloved Tabane'?"

"SHUT UP!" Chifuyu bellowed.

"It's just as if I'd traveled back in time for ten years…" Ichika shook his head. Interactions between Tabane and Chifuyu haven't evolved even a bit. "By the way, Tabane-san," Ichika noted casually, "I really don't know much about cosplay, but are you sure that not wearing lingerie is a must?" With Tabane standing on a rock right beside and above Ichika, he could easily look under her 'Alice in Wonderland' styled dress, and you actually don't need emperor's eyes to see that she has no panties and her crotch is completely exposed.

He said it pretty quiet, so only Maya, Chifuyu and Tabane herself could hear him. Maya immediately became red. "Tabane, get down from there!" Chifuyu demanded, last thing she wanted is other students noticing that what Ichika just mentioned.

"Fufufu, I had to swim here, I just forgot to put on my swimming suit!" Tabane stated before jumping down. And again, Ichika took advantage of his emperor's eyes. Predicting her moves, he caught her in her fall, and, just for two or three seconds, their lips locked in kiss. Fortunately, thanks to large cloud of sand, raised when Tabane jumped and Ichika caught her – only Maya Yamada could actually see what those two just did.

"ORI… ORI… ORIMURA-SAN!" Maya just screamed, she seemed completely deranged.

"Yamada-sensei, calm down!" Chifuyu ordered, trying to bring things back to order. As it was said, she didn't see what exactly happened – she couldn't devote her entire attention to Tabane and her doings, here were a lot of students around.

"Yes… well… but…" Maya was stuttering, "Um… what should I do in this situation..." She couldn't find it in herself to actually explain what's bothering her.

"Ah, like I just said, you can ignore this person here. Yamada-sensei, please help assist the classes," Chifuyu asked.

"I… I got it…" Maya obeyed.

"Uu, Chi-chan's so kind... This Tabane-san really feels envious. She got fooled by this huge-breasted monster, right?" After saying that, Tabane worked herself out of Ichika's embrace and leaped onto Yamada-sensei as her hands quickly grabbed onto her ample breasts.

"KYAAAAHHH! WH-WHA-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Poor woman screamed in complete shock.

"Sigh, what's the problem, what's the problem?" The topic just changed within a few seconds... where in the world did her jealousy go to?

On a side note, Tabane's breasts are slightly bigger than Chifuyu's and about the same size as Yamada-sensei's, maybe even a bit bigger too. Actually, it's kind of an eye candy to see two huge-breasted women harassing each other.

"SHUT IT YOU IDIOT! IF WE'RE TALKING ABOUT BREASTS, AREN'T YOURS BIG ENOUGH?" Chifuyu roared, she just couldn't allow Tabane to harass poor Maya more.

"Hehehe, Chi-chan's so lewd!" Tabane giggled childishly.

"GO TO HELL!" Chifuyu bellowed as she finally resorted to act. After being kicked really hard by Chifuyu, Tabane's face got buried fully into the beach sand. Let's emphasize this once again. This woman, whose ass just got kicked by Chifuyu, is the peerless genius who single-handedly developed the basics of I.S. and practical design.

"Nee-san… What about the thing I requested from you...?" Houki sounded somewhat hesitant as she asked that. On hearing that, Tabane quickly jumped up on her feet and her eyes lit up.

"Fufufu, I prepared that already. Here, behold the great sky!" Tabane pointed up at the sky. On hearing her say that, Houki and the other students looked up at the sky.

BAAM!

Suddenly, really suddenly, with the sound of an impact, an unidentified metallic object dropped onto the sand. The silvery metal block looked like it's a wall for a moment as its front part fell down. Then everyone saw the contents inside. What's inside is…

"Ta Da! This is Houki-chan's personal I.S., **Akatsubaki** [Crimson Camelia]! Its specs are superior to every I.S. in every way and was made personally by Tabane-san!" As if in response to Tabane, that crimson red armor was moved out using mobile arms.

The red armor was reflecting the bright sunlight, probably because it's a new I.S. It's really eye-catching. _'The specs are all superior to the current I.S. units, you say? I guess we'll find out soon enough. However…'_ Just as it appeared, Ichika's eyes began to examine this new unit.

"Here, Houki-chan, it's now time for the optimization! I'll help out from aside, so it'll end soon," Tabane sounded very enthusiastic.

"...I'll leave it to you then," Houki grumbled.

"That's so rare. We're blood siblings. You should talk to me in a more affectionate manner," Elder sister complained but Houki interrupted her.

"Hurry up and start," She said quite rudely. Is this what they mean by 'playing alone'? Houki ignored Tabane's note completely and prompted her to move.

"Mn… well, that's true. Let's get started then," Tabane pressed the remote control, and **Akatsubaki** activated, opening the cockpit to allow the pilot to enter. It even kneeled down automatically to let the pilot enter it easily. Alright, most advanced weapon may just as well be a bit comfortable.

"I've input Houki-chan's data to a certain level. Now I just need to update the recent values!" That seemed to be the truth – new I.S. looked like it has already undergone the First Shift. "Then, let's do it!"

Tabane opened a control panel and slid her fingers on it. She then summoned out six screens in mid-air to navigate through the huge amount of data on the screen, and typed out on the emulated keyboard in mid-air.

"She's really amazing, I have to admit," Ichika smiled, looking at Tabane's work.

Tabane noticed his sight. "Hey, Ik-kun, don't look! When you're staring like that it feels like my ideas are being sucked right from my head!" She said quite childishly and took a step to the side, as if trying to cover her screens from Ichika's eyes, though perfectly knowing that it won't help even a bit.

Then she looked at Houki, "It's a close-ranged suit that's adjusted to being an all-around type, so I guess you will get used to it soon! Not to mention there's automatic support equipment! Onee-chan prepared them all!"

"Oh, thanks," Houki still sounded rather cold. Really, since those two are sisters, shouldn't Houki be a bit more warm to her elder sister? No, that's not that simple… Shinonono sister's situation was completely opposite comparing to Orimura siblings.

When Ichika's parents abandoned him and his sister, Chifuyu replaced them as good as she could. She was working not sparing herself, at the same time trying to finish the school. She sacrificed her own childhood for her brother's sake. In return, Ichika was doing everything he could to make sister's life easier as much as possible, helping her in every way possible. Even this morning, when Chifuyu woke up with hangover (third can of beer was unnecessary, and fourth was clearly too much), there was a glass of clear water and two pills of Alka-Seltzer prepared for her by caring and provident brother… In other words, Orimura siblings were united like no one else.

As for Houki and Tabane… When Tabane published her researches about I.S. and it was recognized, her entire family fell under government protection program. Houki had to part with her friends, Including Ichika and Chifuyu, with her aunt and uncle… and after that Tabane herself also disappeared. All things considered – Houki had a right to hate her elder sister… but still, for that long? No, there's something else happened between them, and this time it seems that Houki's actually the one who feels herself guiltily…

"Houki-chan's kendo skills are even more refined. I can tell from your trained muscles. Yaa Yaa, onee-chan's really proud of you!" Tabane exclaimed encouragingly

"..." But Houki remained silent as rock.

"Hehe, I got ignored…" Tabane giggled with no sign of discouragement. "Okay, optimization is complete… That was fast, as expected of me." Spouting nonsense, Tabane never stopped typing. It resembles someone playing the piano more than typing a keyboard, fast and fluid, and she even went through all the pages that switched around. Though she's rather frivolous and quite insane, she is a real genius.

 _'There's nothing else other than a pair of Japanese swords on both sides of the waist,'_ Ichika's attention was attracted by Akatsubaki's armament, _'Is that really all, Tabane? No, just now, she said that it has 'an automatic support' and 'a close-ranged suit that's adjusted to an all-rounder'. It should have some sort of reconfigurable equipment… Let's see it in action…'_

In the meantime, other students began to express their… thoughts about what was happening just now:

"That I.S. is to be given to Shinonono-san...?"

"Just because they're family?"

"Yeah, it feels a bit unscrupulous."

Voices like these could be heard from the crowd. Unexpectedly (no, actually quite expectedly), the one who quickly squashed all these reactions was Shinonono Tabane herself. "Oh my, haven't all of you read history? This world has never been fair."

The girls who were called out immediately went back to work. As for Tabane, she just left it that as she continued the adjustments, or rather, she never stopped typing even though she was talking. She's really a genius.

Then, the adjustments were complete, and Tabane-san closed the screens.

"After that, it'll just be adjustments, and the personalization will be complete. Ah, Ik-kun, let me see your **Byakushiki**. This Tabane-san's really enthusiastic!" After closing all the screens and keyboard, Tabane-san turned to Ichika. Her light skirt flutters as it gives off a polished woman vibe that's completely opposite of her childish personality.

"Tabane-san," Ichika replied with lenient smile, "How many times I should remind you that **Byakushiki** does no longer exist? Last time was yesterday's evening, if I remember correctly." Ichika raised his left, gloved arm, summoning his own personal I.S. As if responding to his command thoughts, **Messiah** dispersed in balls of light. The lights then gathered in mid-air to form a circle, spinning a few layers around him before forming, all that happened within less than a second.

This was Ichika's personal I.S., **Messiah** , whose name was **Byakushiki** only a few months ago… seems like forever passed since then. A machine that was developed for close-ranged combat was heavily modified, less than half of its original parts were still there, other were replaced. Even its only weapon, energy blade **Yukihira Niigata** was replaced with plasma weapon **Ragnarök** , which now is capable of taking shape of five (actually six) different plasma-based weapons.

"Ah, so this is it, this is it," Tabane mumbled quietly. No, of course she saw Ichika's I.S. several times, but this was the first time she was seeing it from such a close range with her own eyes.

"I'm sorry, Tabane-san, but all command interfaces were redesigned to fit my own needs, I'm afraid there's no more external access points," Ichika confirmed. Actually, that was first modification Ichika ever made – he closed any possibility for anyone but pilot to interact with his I.S. Last thing he wanted is someone messing with his unit, no matter who it might be. By the way, when she gave Ichika few advices, Tabane unwillingly helped him to cut herself from his I.S. Not that she really had any regrets about that… "But if you really wanna see it, Tabane-san – here," Ichika added as three holographic screens appeared in front of his I.S.

"Mnn... To actually create such an unbelievable diagram like this. What is this? I never seen this state before. Is it because Ik-kun's a guy?" By the way – the diagram here refers to the development path the I.S. takes according to the person. In human terms, it's the genes.

"No," Ichika shook his head, "Let's say… there are more reasons to that…"

"I see…" Tabane smiled cunningly as her childish demeanor suddenly disappeared for a few moments, "Then I'll just wait to see where that path leads…" Of course, information that Ichika was showing was incomplete, and even peerless genius like Tabane couldn't comprehend everything with so small amount of data. "Well, forget about it. I just don't know about what I don't know then. I've set the I.S. to evolve on their own when I created them, so it was obvious such a thing would happen eventually, hahaha," She laughed carelessly. "But to think that it would happen with **Byakushiki** , the I.S. I personally created…"

"Huh... WHAAAT?! Tabane-san created Ichika-sama's I.S.!?" Several voices asked in unison.

"Mn, yup!" Her eyes lit up again, "Actually, I just retrieved the scrapped flawed machine and tweaked it slightly until it could move. But thanks to that, Ik-kun can use the **One-off Ability** in first shift, right? That's super convenient. Yup! Also, how should I say it? It was developed like this, you know? In Japan."

*BAM!* "Idiot, stop revealing so much of classified information!" Tabane's head got hit without mercy. The one who attacked was obviously the instructor from hell aka Chifuyu.

"OWWW! Huh, Chi-chan's affections have been too intense up till now," Tabane moaned.

"SHUT UP!" Chifuyu landed another hit! While Tabane was rubbing her head in pain, a girl called out to her.

"Ex-Excuse me! I heard of Professor Shinonono before. If possible, could you please check my I.S.?" It was Cecilia. Most likely, she felt excited about seeing the famous Shinonono Tabane in front of her as her eyes were glowing exceptionally. However…

"Ah? Who are you? I don't recognize some blond person. And right now, it's a touching reunion with Houki-chan, Chi-chan and Ik-kun after so many years. I don't know why are you interrupting me. Who are you anyway?" Her voice suddenly got cold, the content, the eyes and even the tone got cold.

"Huh, that..." Cecilia tried to say something.

"Shut up and move aside," Tabane rudely interrupted her.

"Uh..." After being rejected again, even Cecilia backed away while looking completely distraught. She got rejected without even having the chance to be shocked by the sudden change in Tabane's attitude as her eyes got teary.

Well, this person hasn't changed at all... According to Tabane herself, the reason is that: _'I can't tell the difference between humans. The only people I know are Houki-chan, Chi-chan and Ik-kun. Papa and mama may count as well. Ufufu, that's because I have no interest in other people at all!'_ That's why Tabane treated everyone else besides three aforementioned persons just as she treated poor Cecilia right now. But, well, she did improve in this case, actually… she would simply ignore others in the past... Actually, that seemed to be trained into her by Chifuyu. At least she would answer others now.

"Hoo… weird blond hair. I hate the thick skin of the Japanese. Japanese are the best… but I don't care about Japanese either way except for Houki-chan, Chi-chan and Ii-kun," It was hard to say why she said what she just said.

"Uncle and aunty too?" Surprisingly, Houki asked that.

"Hmm? Well… that's right," Tabane nodded.

 _'No, you don't'_ Ichika's eyes easily saw through Tabane's lie. "Better say," Ichika asked Tabane, "What have you decided about that what we were talking about yesterday's evening? Are you going to dress up like Kurumi Tokisaki next time? I can even help you with replacing one of your eyes with clock!"

"Che… Ik-kun's really too much!" Tabane exclaimed childishly, "I don't want to paint my hair black!" Then, at the same time they turned towards Chifuyu… no doubts – her luxury black hair would fir Kurumi's image perfectly. "Hey, Chi-Chan…" Tabane tried to say…

"SHUT UP IDIOTS!" Chifuyu bellowed and both Tabane and Ichika had to back off. As it was said – there were only two people in this world which could infuriate Chifuyu to that extent… and now they were together. Chifuyu looked at Ichika and her eyes flashed, that definitely meant 'we'll talk about that later.'

"Ah… ahem," Houki coughed twice to get her elder sister's attention, "Am I done here?"

"Mnn, yep, it's done. Oh, 3 minutes over. Ahh, I could have used the time to cook a cup of instant noodles. Too bad," Tabane sighed.

' _No, there's nothing to feel bad about...'_ Ichika thought. If he's actually hate something – let it be a bad food. Besides… nowadays, instant noodles won't even need 3 minutes, anyway.

"Then try taking it for a ride. Fly it a bit! It should follow Houki-chan's thoughts!" Tabane exclaimed.

"Okay, I'll try it," Houki replied with dry tone.

The cables that Tabane used to link her terminals with I.S. were removed. After that, Houki closed her eyes, and **Akatsubaki** flew off at a really fast speed.

"WAH!" Several people exclaimed at the same time.

The sudden acceleration caused shockwaves that made the sand dance. As Ichika turned to look at Houki, his emperor's eyes were following **Akatsubaki** that was flying about six hundred feet above.

"How is it? Much more mobile than what Houki-chan expected?" Tabane asked with satisfied smile.

"Mnn... yeah, sort of..." Houki mumbled in reply. By the way, Tabane's using the public I.S. channel to communicate, so she definitely has some I.S. related trick in her sleeve.

"Then try swinging your swords," Tabane suggested, "The right one is **Amatsuki** [Lunar Rain], and the left one is **Karaware** [Sky Breaker]. I'm going to send the special data of the weapons over!"

After saying that, Tabane's fingers began to dance on holographic keyboard. Having received the weapon data, Houki drew both swords with a swoosh. That clean strike indicates years of kendo training.

"Let's add on Tabane-onee-chan's explanation!" Tabane almost sang. " **Lunar Rain** 's used to attack one person. The blade will create several energy rays when it attacks. It can turn an enemy into a beehive if it's used consecutively! It's a wonderful weapon! The range is about as far as an assault rifle, no? It can't reach the range of a sniper rifle, but it's balanced out by the speed of **Akatsubaki**."

Ichika wasn't sure that Houki was going along with Tabane-san's explanation, but she got ready to swing the blade. She raised her right hand to her left shoulder into the Shinonono-nitoryū kendo style – the shield-sword style. That's a position that can easily turn defense into attack, using the force of the attack to counter.

As the blade got swung out, several orbs of red light formed in surrounding space, after which all those orbs shot forth like bullets of light and pierced out several holes in the clouds in the air.

"How familiar, ain't it?" Ichika said quietly as he approached his sister. "Those energy charges use frequency modulation of 445 terahertz…" Chifuyu didn't reply anything, but her eyes narrowed.

"The next one's **Sky Breaker**. It's a weapon used to deal with a group, and can launch a shaped attack with the slash! The blade can extend its length when it's swung, so it's super useful. Try hitting some of them here!" After saying that, Tabane summoned a 16-missile pod firing machine. As the light particles gathered and formed it, it shot out its missiles at that instant.

"Do not relent, Houki," Ichika said.

"Don't worry! If it's this **Akatsubaki**!" Tabane exclaimed.

Like what Tabane said, Houki swung the **Sky Breaker** , that was tucked under her right armpit, one round. The red laser blade extended itself out just like Tabane said, slicing 16 missiles with one slash. And again, laser blade definitely uses frequency modulation of 445 terahertz.

Gradually appearing from the smoke of the explosion, Houki and her red I.S. looked as imposing as ever. "Powerful..." Everyone present looked stunned and mesmerized by the overwhelming outcome in front of them, unable to say anything. Tabane-san seemed satisfied as she viewed the scene in front of her, nodding away.

However, one person's staring at Tabane-san sternly. And that person's Chifuyu. _'Onee-san, don't show such a look… there's no need to look at her like at an enemy… future is uncertain yet…'_ Ichika thought, looking at sister's face.

Ichika's own thoughts, however, were focused on **Akatsubaki** , _'Is that really it?'_ He thought. Seemingly, Houki's new I.S. didn't impress Ichika. It was exceptionally fast and powerful... but not as much as Ichika expected from hand-crafted unit, created by Shinonono Tabane herself. _'Is that all you are really capable of, Tabane? I refuse to believe it… then it means… **Akatsubaki** is still incomplete? You were preparing it in hurry, as always?'_ His thoughts were interrupted by sudden call via military emergency channel. At the same time…

"TH-THI-THIS IS BAD! O-ORI-ORIMURA-SENSEI!" The sudden voice of Maya Yamada caused Chifuyu to keep her sharp eyes and turn to her. Though Yamada-sensei's normally panicking, it felt different this time.

"What's wrong?" Orimura-sensei asked sternly.

"Pl-Plea-Please look at this," Maya gave Chifuyu her datapad. On seeing the visual image Yamada-sensei passed over, Chifuyu's face darkened.

"Class A special mission, and a request to deal with it immediately..."

"Th-That's... Located at the Hawaiian research facility…"

"Shh! Don't leak confidential information. The students will hear it."

"So-Sorry..."

"The pilot of the personal I.S.?"

"One… One's missing. The rest are present."

Chifuyu-sensei and Yamada-sensei seem to be discussing about something in a soft voice. Once they notice several students looking here, they started using hand signals instead.

Ichika could easily read those signals, he remembered their meaning since when Chifuyu was the I.S. representative of Japan. However, he wasn't interesting in them, as he himself now was in the middle of important call.

"I… I'll contact the other teachers then," Maya ran away.

"Got it. EVERYONE! PAY ATTENTION!" Chifuyu shouted with thundering voice and clapped twice to gain everyone's attention. "The I.S. Academy teachers are now going to carry out a special mission, so today's testing will be over. Every class is to keep the I.S. and return back to the resort. You are to remain in your own rooms. That's all!"

"Huh...? What's going on?"

"End? Why? The special mission is..."

"I don't understand at all..."

The unexpected situation caused the girls to chatter away.

But Chifuyu-nee roared, "EVERYONE IS TO HURRY UP AND HEAD BACK! WHOEVER'S COMES OUT WITHOUT PERMISSION WILL BE LOCKED UP! AM I CLEAR!?"

"""YES!""" Everyone started moving frantically, removing the equipment on their bodies, shutting down the activated I.S. units and putting them on the vehicles. It seems that they got scared by Chifuyu's demonic roar.

"Personal I.S. pilots are to gather! Orimura, Alcott, Dunois, Bodewig, Huang, and... Shinonono!" Chifuyu called for selected people.

"Yes!" Answering really loudly was Houki, who stood beside Ichika. Oh yeah, she can be considered as one with a personal I.S. now.

"Orimura, you're waiting for special invitation?!" Chifuyu called for her brother, who didn't seem to be in hurry, unlike the rest.

"It's Lt.-Commander Orimura now," Ichika reminded. Of course – level D alert was declared, and until it will be canceled Ichika was no longer an I.S. academy student, but Naval officer. "Go ahead without me, I'll catch up, I have admiral Imōmarū on the line right now…" Chifuyu just nodded, honestly – there was nothing she could do about that situation.

* * *

And that's it for now, don't forget about **review**!


	10. Vicissitudes of Fate

Hello again people! Here I am with tenth chapter. Seems I'm still on the roll, though this one's just a prelude before next one, which will contain the real battle.

Now, some answers for those who wrote a **review**.

 **Imperial-samaB, DarkBladerZX, Gordaime, FateBurn, Funny-Little-Cute White Fox, Guest, Heliosion, aGoldenLion:** Many thanks people, I promise – I'll do everything that depends on me to make the final battle against rogue I.S. as epic as possible.

 **Moonless Night of Peace:** Thank you for your concern, and for your **review**. As for that guy… I really don't mind some constructive criticism, I may agree to that or not, but it helps make story better anyway. But some flame, written under 'guest' alias… I won't even read that, so don't waste your time on people like that 'you suck' or whatever.

 **Sajuuk:** rest assured – Ichika will get **a lot** from the battles ahead… but everything has a price.

 **He who is AWESOME:** You right, some phrases from LN just as good as they are, this is why I mentioned it as my primary reference point. As for Ichika's character – it's only the tip of the iceberg.

 **cra0007:** Well, consider that scene as a mere preview, that's my advice. As for Tabane reaction – it's just a mere game yet.

 **meirmamuka:** Under 'limited harem' I meant two, maximum three women in full-scale intimate relationships, and simple flirt with others. As for 'True love'… Man, such a thing simply incompatible with harems – 'True Love' can be one and only. As for ranking during emergency situations – in such cases Chifuyu and Ichika are from different organizations, none has legal authority over another. And about Chifuyu's I.S.  – **Kurazakura** – even in NL it's shrouded in mystery. But i'll make something of it, rest assured

Now, let's proceed.

* * *

 **Chapter X – Vicissitudes of Fate**

…

July 10th, 10:15 AM

"Now, let me explain the situation," Chifuyu started to talk. The room full of teachers and personal I.S. pilots, are all gathered inside the deepest banquet hall of the resort, the Kachihana Room. The room with the lights still off has a large screen floating in mid-air. "There are news that 2 hours ago, the **Silver Gospel** , a 3rd generation military use I.S., which was conjointly developed by United States and Israel, went out of control in the test facility, located in Hawaii, and left the surveillance facility."

As he already knew all that, instead of hearing Chifuyu's explanation, Ichika was silently observing other people's reaction. All of them were looking pretty serious, no one seems scared. Everyone here, other than Houki, are official representatives of their respective countries, so maybe they've received training for this kind of situation. Laura's eyes were looking exceptionally serious. Well, just like Ichika, she's a military officer, with the rank of captain.

"After that, through satellite tracking, we found that the **Silver Gospel** will enter our air space, twelve kilometers from here. That will happen in approximately 1 hour 20 minutes from now." Chifuyu calmly said on. Then she looked at her brother.

"Despite this incident directly concerns Japanese national security, our government decided to give I.S. Academy full authority to deal with situation," Ichika gave short version of his conversation with his superiors. "JSDF [Japan Self-Defense Forces] have been ordered to be on standby, providing support only if necessary," He added.

Chifuyu nodded, "Thus, according to the Academy higher-ups' jurisdiction, we have to deal with this situation." However, what she said next came quite unexpected. "All Academy staff members, please use the Academy's training suits to seal off the air space and sea. The main operation will be done using personal I.S. units." Her words' could mean only one thing – that rampant military I.S. will have to be stopped by academy students.

"Next, we'll begin the planning of the battle. Anyone who have questions, please raise your hand," Chifuyu announced.

"Yes," Cecilia immediately raised her hand, "Please explain the specs and data of the target I.S."

"A reasonable request," Chifuyu nodded. "But these are the highest military secrets of those two countries, so specific details definitely can't be revealed. Once the data's revealed, the parties involved will be court-martialed, and they have to take at least two years of probation," She reminded about consequences, explaining why only limited amount of data are available. All available data appeared on the screen.

"I understand," Cecilia nodded seriously. As Ichika continued to apathetically watch over the situation, everyone present, including Cecilia, were already discussing about data they just received.

"It's a unique long ranged type that's designed to clear the area... It seems that it can launch a full-scale attack like my I.S." Cecilia expressed her opinion.

"That frame has enhanced attack and mobility. That's tough. And the specs are better than my **Shenlong** ," Rin said, "So the opponent has a slight advantage..."

"This unique armor seems to be tough to handle. My country sent a few **Revive** defensive equipment over, but I do feel that it's tough to defend against them consecutively," Charlotte shook her head.

"And looking at these figures, its fighting capability is still an unknown variable. The technology it uses also unknown. Can't we investigate it anyway?" Laura asked.

"Nothing special," Ichika said, still sitting in his corner with that apathetic look on his face. "It has 36 wing-mounted, first-generation plasma cannons, or **plasma throwers** , to be more precise, as it uses pressured air instead of electro-magnetic accelerator to launch plasma charges…"

Everyone in the room, aside from Chifuyu, were now looking at Ichika with their eyes wide open. "Ichi…" Laura quickly corrected herself, "Commander Orimura, how do you know this?" Despite there were no data about rogue I.S. armaments, Ichika seemed quite certain.

"Oh, come off it…" Ichika sighed tiredly. "We all are looking at the same image, aren't we?" He pointed at right half of the screen, where **Silver Gospel** 's external view was displayed. "Look at these apertures on **Gospel** 's 'wings' – they definitely have magnetic deflection covering. It's only purpose to protect 'barrel' from direct contact with plasma. On the other hand, there's a certain limit of magnetic accelerator's length-to-diameter ratio, and here this ratio's definitely violated. According to barrels' angle and wings' width (barrels were perpendicular to wing's plane) – those 'barrels' are simply too short. Use of compressed air to push plasma charge out of barrel is acceptable alternative."

As everyone continued to stare at him with saucer-wide eyes, Ichika continued to explain, "As for plasma itself – it is also made of compressed atmospheric air, heated to state of plasma. However…" He added, looking somewhere aside, "Even if it's just a first generation plasma weapon, it doesn't mean you can relax – it is powerful enough, and, as I said – there are 36 of those plasma throwers…"

"You… you've learned all of that just by looking at that I.S. image?!" Charlotte exclaimed as ability to speak finally returned to her.

"It's not that hard if you know just where to look," Ichika shrugged. "Besides, don't forget that plasma weaponry is my specialty."

Chifuyu was the only one who wasn't speechless. She was well aware that her brother's insight is peerless and he's a brilliant engineer… but she also knew about the power of emperor's eye, which he no doubts used to examine the rogue I.S. unit with exceptional details.

*CLAP!* Orimura-sensei clapped her hands to divert all attention from Ichika and make people once again focus on current situation. "Thank you for your explanation, lieutenant-commander, however, it's armament isn't our main problem," She said. "This machine's still moving at a supersonic speed. The maximum velocity it has is over 1350 knots, so we need to stop it from first attempt."

"From first attempt... Then we have no choice but to face it with the unit with the most offensive power…" Maya Yamada guessed.

After hearing Yamada-sensei's words, everyone turned to Ichika. "Orimura-san, you must take it out with your **Paradise of Darkness**!" Cecilia exclaimed.

"It seems to be the only way," Rin nodded.

"That's the case, but… Yeah, problem is – how are we going to get Ichika there? It'll be hard for us to succeed if we don't focus on the attack, but how are we going to cover the logistics?" Charlotte wondered.

"And we have to catch up to a fast moving I.S. Also, the high definition hyper-sensor will also be needed," Laura added.

"Ladies," Ichika interrupted four girls' discussion, "Before you continue to discuss strategy, built around me, I'd like to remind you that all JSDF [Japan Self-Defense Forces] personnel were ordered to be on stand-by but do not interfere without extreme necessity. That includes me as well," Ichika informed, simple as that. "And that order came from Prime Minister of Japan himself, violating such an order is too much, even for me…" Ichika said, before adding with barely hearable voice "…yet."

Everyone looked at him in shock… even Chifuyu seemed surprised, though she quickly removed that surprised look from her face. Noticing his elder sister's gaze, Ichika nodded towards hall's door, "Orimura-sensei, can we have a few words?" Elder sister nodded and both siblings left the hall.

* * *

"What's going on?" Chifuyu asked as soon as door was closed behind them. She seemed quite irritated, but not with Ichika – with that situation in whole.

"Political powerplay, nothing more," Ichika shrugged. "Remember I received a call from admiral when we just learned about I.S. going rogue?" Elder sister nodded so Ichika continued, "Well, it seems that I.S. Academy higher-ups contacted Prime Minister and convinced him to let them resolve this situation without external help, so minister of defense got the order to keep our military forces on stand-by, but do not interfere without emergency. That order was translated to **all** military personal. I'm pretty sure they've formulated that order like this intentionally, to make sure it will also affect me. They wanted your best pilot to be excluded from possible operational group that Academy might assemble…" Ichika made a small pause, "No doubts they want to remind the Academy that, despite they are under UN jurisdiction, at the same time they are still under our Ministry of Defense patronage, they don't want academy to be too independent…" He shrugged again "…well, that part is just my speculations, of course."

"What a kindergarten…" Chifuyu swore silently, no matter what she would say on public to 'keep her face', she was well aware that Ichika really is the best pilot available right now and his I.S. is the one most suited for the task.

"Listen…" Ichika said with sigh, "I know it's not my busyness in current situation, but… I don't think it's wise to send those girls to intercept that I.S. Neither of them have any experience to work as a team, even captain Bodewig… or should I say 'especially captain Bodevig'…" Ichika shook his head. "Besides, they all consider themselves 'rivals in love', as you could say – no doubts they'll turn that battle into competition…"

Chifuyu didn't reply anything – of course she knew that herself as good as Ichika, and now she was considering her remaining options. Calling for backup from the Academy wasn't an option – they have not enough time. And no way Academy will ask Ministry of Defense to let Ichika participate in this operation. Not only they'll admit that they can't handle it themselves… there's more. Asking for Ichika's help is just like admitting outright that they can't handle anything without him. And he already got quite a lot of influence and independence, probably it was already disturbing from Academy's higher ups point of view…

As such, there are two remaining options, first – use academy instructors to intercept enemy I.S. instead of students. Instructors are pretty skillful, but their units are just 2nd generation **Revive** s and **Uchigane** s. Rogue I.S. is much faster – it can easily avoid battle and escape. Second one – let personal I.S. owners handle it. But then things may go just as Ichika described it – it may turn into real catastrophe…

*Sigh* Ichika sighed deeply. Chifuyu was very good at hiding her emotions, but here were only two of them for twelve years, even without special eyes Ichika could see through that mask of equanimity on his sister's face. "Listen, I really want those idiots from Academy and JSDF to play their idiotic game themselves." Ichika's eyes flashed, "I don't give a damn about Academy, that's not a big secret, if they became less independent from JSDF – for me it's even better. However, in our current situation… either Academy's forces simply lose that rogue I.S. and it begin to rampage on Japanese territory, or those Hetare girls get themselves injured or killed in battle with that I.S.… we both know who will be a scapegoat – my only sister. I refuse to allow that to happen…"

Chifuyu narrowed her eyes. No, of course it was very touching that her brother cares about her well-being, but she didn't like that he ain't care about anyone else… But still, putting aside the fact that all what Ichika just said was true, and of course Chifuyu didn't want to become a scapegoat, and even putting all personal feelings aside – if he knows how to get a permission to participate in the mission, by all means, he should do it. "You want to say that you know how to get a permission?" She asked.

"I think so," Ichika nodded confidently.

 _'No, he's not counting on occasion. He definitely has something in his sleeve…'_ She thought, looking at her younger brother.

"Onee-san, have I ever failed you, even once?" Ichika asked, looking at elder sister with his glowing eyes.

"Alright," She sighed, "You have ten minutes, lieutenant-commander. Do whatever you like, but if you won't get permission, we'll have to start operation without you." Chifuyu turned around and touched the door handle, but before opening the door elder sister turned back and looked at her brother, and smiled slightly, "Ichika, I'm counting on you…" She said before returning to banquette hall, which was temporary turned into operation planning center.

"Don't you worry, onee-san," Ichika said, summoning his communicator. "I know you wouldn't like that what I'm going to do, but sometimes, to deal with the scum like our higher-ups, we should use their own methods…"

* * *

July 10th, 10:34 AM

Seven minutes have passed since Chifuyu returned to planning room, but Ichika still didn't come back. Everyone was quiet, moving their sights to screen with data about **Silver Gospel** 's current position and back to Chifuyu. When she returned after her talk with Ichika she didn't say anything, only announced that they have to wait ten minutes.

"Orimura-sensei…" Maya tried to say something but Chifuyu just shook her head. She gave Ichika ten minutes and she was intending to wait just as much. One more minute has passed. *Clank* Hall's door opened and Ichika returned to the room.

"We have a green light," He informed as soon as he entered. "I got special order to provide all necessary assistance to I.S. Academy forces."

Several people let out sigh of relief. Ichika proved his abilities many times, and his I.S. was perfect for that mission, so chances of success just rose up drastically. Only Chifuyu was looking at brother a bit suspiciously. No, of course she was glad and even proud that her brother fulfilled his promise, but – personal order? That was just too good – with who he was talking just now? However, she could think about that later.

"Very good. Now, let's discuss the battle plan," Chifuyu announced.

"I'm afraid that right now we have quite limited amount of options," Ichika said, "But here's my plan: I'll plot the intercept course to go ahead of the enemy unit and then I'll attack it head-on. Even if I won't be able to take it out with initial assault, it'll force **Silver Gospel** to change its current course as now it leads to heavily populated area. The only problem here is that if we want to end that quickly my I.S. have to be in assault mode…"

"Understood," Chifuyu nodded, "Then you need a wingman with highly maneuverable unit to block any attempts of rogue I.S. to get away…" She touched her chin. She knew that Ichika's I.S. loses significant part of its agility when it goes to assault mode. She turned to personal I.S. owners, "Amongst you pilots, who has the fastest speed and maneuverability?"

"My **Blue Tears** ," Cecilia raised her arm as she quickly perked up. "It just so happened that the special package **Strike Gunner** , which England just sent over for testing, contains improved thrusters, and high-resolution, long-range sensor equipped with it as well."

All I.S. have what's called **Package** of switchable equipment.

The **Package** includes the weapons, additional armor and/or boosters. There are all sorts of varieties to them. The I.S. unit's capability and nature will change drastically according to the currently installed package, as such I.S. can be tuned for all sorts of combat. On a side note, all the first year personal I.S. pilots, excluding Ichika (who has no package at all), have semi-customized packages, except for Charlotte, whose package is fully customized, or, to be more precise, it is completely custom-built package.

"Alcott, how long have you been training under supersonic mode?" Chifuyu requested clarification

"20 hours," Cecilia reported.

"Hmm... Alright, that's indeed suitable. Then, let's proc…" Chifuyu got ready to end this planning, only to be interrupted by a super energetic voice.

"HOLD ON, HOLD ON! STOP WITH THAT STRATEGY!" And the voice came from the ceiling. Everyone looked up to see Shinonono Tabane's head appearing upside down from the ceiling.

"...Yamada-sensei, please forcefully escort that person out," Chifuyu gave order immediately.

"Huh? Ye-Yes! Ah, Professor Shinonono, please get here down first," Maya said, though she seemed a bit scared as it definitely wasn't an easy order.

"O-OH!" Tabane flipped a somersault in mid-air and landed. That gentle movement is something even an acrobat from a circus has to admire. How far is this person would go to show her cards like that... "Chi-chan Chi-chan, my brain's now printing an even more brilliant plan! Oh my… is there any printers out here?"

"...Get out," Chifuyu growled as she pressed against her head. Though Yamada-sensei wanted to follow order and escort Tabane out, Tabane easily slipped away from her.

"Listen to me, listen to me! This is *deefiiniiteelyy* the time for **Akatsubaki** 's debut!" Tabane announced excitedly.

"What!?" Houki almost jumped.

"Look at **Akatsubaki** 's specs! It can fly at supersonic speeds even without additional packets!" Tabane's eyes were shining. As if responding to her words, screens appeared around Chifuyu. "Adjusting **Akatsubaki** 's **Fold-Out Armor**... change this, change here, change everything! See? The speed will be great now!"

 _'Fold-Out Armor? What's that?'_ Ichika could read that question on several people's faces in this room. Just when spectators were puzzled about that strange name, Tabane was already standing beside Chifuyu and explaining it to public, as she even took away the main screen from Ichika's sister. What was an image of the **Gospel** 's position and speed is now switched to **Akatsubaki** 's specs.

"Let me explain. Here it comes! This so-called Fold-Out Armor will be the 4th generation frame's equipment that this genius developed for the 4th generation I.S!"

"Fourth...?!" Several voices asked that at the same time.

"OK! Now, the kind-hearted Tabane-san will start explaining!" Tabane announced joyfully. "Hehe, are you happy yet? First, the **first generation** frames were aimed to 'complete the I.S.' The **second generation** was about to 'diversify I.S. roles according to the different equipment'. Next, the **third generation** are units that 'carries unique weapons that're controlled by the pilot's imagination', including air-compressed weapons, BiTs and AIC. And the 4th generation are those 'all-purpose frames that don't need a change in equipment'. Right now, it's still on the planning phase. Okay, do you understand now? Sensei loves the outstanding students best!"

"You really like the sound of your own voice, are you?" Ichika asked.

"LOOK WHO'S TALKING!" Several voices shouted at the same time, including Maya Yamada.

"Wait… Hol… Hold on a minute," One of academy's instructors, who was present in planning room, asked uncertainly, "All the countries finally managed to enter the 3rd generation phase after so much experimenting. Why have we jumped all the way to the 4th generation now?"

Usually Tabane would ignore some unknown people, but seemingly she couldn't lose the chance to praise herself once more, "Fufufu, this Tabane-san isn't just an ordinary genius! This is just an appetizer from me!" An appetizer. That doesn't sound nice for some reason... "This was already used on the **Yukihira Niigata** [Snowflake Type II] of the **Byakushiki**. I installed it to try it out!"

"""Huh?""" What she said caused every personal I.S. pilot other than me to be stunned.

It was a truth, to be honest. The base construct when activating the **Reiraku Byakuya** of the **Snowflake Type II** was actually the so-called **Fold-Out armor**. If that's the case, **Byakushiki** itself could be considered a 4th generation unit already. But both **Byakushiki** and **Snowflake Type II** were long gone…

"Wait, Ichika-san, does it mean…" Charlotte tried to ask but Ichika interrupted her.

"Of course not," He replied as he already knew what Charlotte wanted to ask. "Though it bears the same name, we actually talking about completely different things," Now was Ichika's turn to explain. "The truth is – **Fold-Out armor** is just a generic name, which generally can be applied to anything that folds-out from I.S. main armor layer."

"Ik-kun's **Fold-Out armor** is a flux electron field, made to contain and control plasma," Tabane explained with cunning smile. Indeed, **Redeemer** 's blade projector and barrels of other **Ragnarök** 's forms were made of type of Fold-out armor that Tabane just described. By the way, it seemed that she said this just to remind Ichika that she's quite aware of his tricks.

"Indeed," Ichika nodded. "On the other hand, Tabane-san's **Fold-out armor** is frequency-modulated static energy field that can deflect or emit energy, so it can be used as weapon, additional armor layer or even thruster," Ichika quickly repaid his debt, disclosing Tabane's concept.

"That's right! And because the development went well, **Akatsubaki** 's entire armor is made of **Fold-Out Armor**! When the system will achieve its maximum ability, the specs will double!" Tabane announced joyfully.

"Ho… hold, hold on a minute. Huh? Whole body? That means..." Houki herself seemed shocked.

"Yup, it's invincible! Anyway, it's the strongest!" Tabane replied.

Everyone present is dumbfounded. The only two who doesn't seem shocked are Chifuyu and Ichika as everyone else here's just dumbstruck by what this Shinonono Tabane in front of them just said.

However, this conversation revealed absolutely different approach of **Fold-Out Armor** usage by **Messiah** and **Crimson Camellia**. I.S. **Messiah** , remade by Ichika, was using **Fold-Out Armor** only as an auxiliary instrument to control plasma, which was actual all-purpose thing. In contrary, **Crimson Camellia** 's **Fold-Out Armor** was the all-purpose system by itself.

"Also, just as Ik-kun said, **Akatsubaki** 's **Fold-Out Armor** is of the instant configuration type, so it can change to attack, defense and mobility along the way! This is the aim of the 4th generation frame, a multi-type frame!" Tabane announced joyfully, "Fufufu, I prepared it a long time ago. Hohoho~"

Everyone's silent.

"Huh? What's wrong? Why is everyone looking like they're keeping vigil at a funeral? Who's dead? That's strange," Tabane seemed surprised.

Well, honestly, that's not something that can be described with the words 'that's strange'. All the countries invested money, time, talent in an arms race to develop the 3rd Generation I.S. frame... And all that was actually meaningless. Those two are actually discussing whose approach to 4th generation I.S. is better. How, how can there be such a ridiculous thing!?

"I told you before already, Tabane. You overdid it," Chifuyu sighed heavily.

"Really? Hehe, I got too into it accidentally…" Tabane-san seemed to have finally understood why everyone here remained silent after Chifuyu explained it to her.

"Ah, but you see, **Akatsubaki** 's still incomplete, so don't show such an expression. Seeing you people look so down-heartened, this Tabane-san really doesn't want to play pranks now," Tabane seemingly tried to defuse the situation… not too successful. "Well, about that, that's when **Akatsubaki** 's at full power. Finishing this mission is just a warm-up before dinner!"

"But that's not all, Tabane-san, right?" Ichika said as his eyes suddenly flashed. "And that is strange as you forgot to mention your most interesting invention."

"Oh, am I? Really!?" She asked, still maintaining that innocent attitude.

"But of course," Ichika nodded. "You mentioned **Fold-Out Armor** , showed quite sophisticated weapon… but you forgot to mention why all that very energy-consuming things actually can work. But all that can work thanks to the heart of **Crimson Camellia** , the **Akirai Nigata** [Crystal Well Model Two], second generation power source, which uses not **Tokamak** -type **MCF** [Magnetic Confinement Fusion] thermonuclear reaction, but **Direct Drive** -type **ICF** [Inertial Confinement Fusion] laser-sustained fusion reaction. That's the real breakthrough you've finally achieved."

And when Ichika said that, just for a moment, Tabane's face changed – she seemed surprised or even worried. Thought that happened just for a moment – it was clear that she didn't expect Ichika to notice that as well, at least not that easily. But then her careless smile quickly returned to her face.

On a side note – entire planning room again became as silent as graveyard. Second generation power source? No, that's definitely was too much… Until now, all I.S. units were using one or another variation of **Akirai** [Crystal Well] power source, created by Tabane when she just introduced I.S., ten years ago. Even though **Tokamak** -type was a most developed type of fusion reactors, making it compact enough to be installed on I.S. – that was simply unbelievable feat. Since then different science groups created several variations of **Akirai** , but mainly it was still the same technology. Even Ichika's I.S., **Messiah** , uses heavily modified version of **Akirai**. And yet, she's gone and done it again, developing really new reactor type, ahead of whole world.

"Speaking of which, about new techs and that rampant I.S. incident, it reminds me of that White Knight Incident ten years ago!" Tabane suddenly changed theme as she chuckled away, and beside her, Chifuyu gave an 'uh oh' look.

* * *

"The **White Knight** Incident." Everybody in the world should have heard of this name. Shinonono Tabane introduced I.S. ten years ago, but at the beginning, no one recognized her accomplishments. Nobody believed that it could 'surpass all current weapons'. Some of them even felt that those words 'couldn't be trusted'.

"Oh my, I never thought that this world would be that stupid. Ufufu, they wouldn't believe my ability, yet they would believe God's blessing. This so-called idol worship is simply amazing. This Tabane-san's an actual living person!" Tabane just laughed at all those who didn't believed her.

A year after the IS was introduced, an incident happened. Well, it would be too weird to call it an incident, since there's nothing more critical than that point. An unknown hacker targeted 2 341 missiles from all the countries in the world at Japan, making them unable to be controlled – and launched them all.

The whole world sunk into chaos and despair. At that moment, a female in a full silver and white armor appeared. As that female's face was covered thoroughly by some facemask-type sensors, nobody knew her real identity. However, how you'd put it – it was really too similar to some shounen manga plot, as it left everyone speechless.

The hero who was dressed like some Middle Ages knight actually slashed about half of the missiles, 1 221 missiles in total, using some sort of energy sword. That female was holding a sword no matter what, yet unexpectedly, the human actually flew at supersonic speed to slash down these modern-day weapons called missiles, so it really seemed exaggerated.

Then, as the guided missiles are a bit away from her, she suddenly wiped them out with what could be called a ' _large gun, which used charged particles as killing agent_ '. With that, she destroyed all missiles that left. With a combat ability that's based around speed, an ability to create a large number of things through light particles and the practical usage of light weapons – no modern weapons were a match for it.

However, the entire world's not so slow as to not deal with this starling existence. The countries around Japan ignored the world's constitution and started tracking the I.S. through scout planes. The mission of those scout planes was to 'Investigate the Target. Capture if possible. If impossible – eliminate'.

At that time, all the countries seemed to have invested a lot into the latest weapons… But they were completely outmatched. Vulcan guns or guided missiles couldn't even hurt the armor of the I.S. There was even an energy shield.

First, the fighter planes couldn't turn about immediately as the human pilot can't handle the tremendous G-Force. But the I.S. was different. With the defense system guarding it, no matter how mobile the frame was, the pilot would not lose consciousness nor gasp for breath.

And according to the figures the sensors calculated, the I.S. could process calculations faster and make decisions faster. It could also change into action. Despite sinking all the fighter planes of all the countries, the **White Knight** didn't take a single life away. This proved the battle difference that they despaired over. Anyway, the thing was that 'It could make the opponent powerless without killing them'.

Even so, all the countries still sent in troops, yet the **White Knight** suddenly vanished like the sunset. It was like the VTR image of it got rewound and suddenly disappeared, as the illusion-like **White Knight** disappeared completely. They couldn't track it down using radar, and they couldn't identify it through their own eyes. It showed complete invisibility.

Facing the abilities that I.S. showed off – this world lost completely. One machine was able to destroy or disable 2 341 missiles, 207 fighter jets, 7 cruisers, 5 aircraft carriers and 8 satellites. This 'Ultimate Mobile Weapon' I.S. instantly became famous in one night.

Having a machine that can overpower other countries' military capability, this fact prompted the entire world to immediately propose a constitution about I.S. to limit its use and also to spread it about. Shinonono Tabane once said that 'Only an I.S. can beat an I.S.', and with the facts in front of them, the losers of this fight, the world accepted it without disagreements – they had to.

* * *

"So because of that, my beloved I.S. became famous! I don't care about the fact that women got special treatment, but I could be kidnapped or assassinated if I'm careless. That really felt like some other country. Ufufu," Describing it really happily, Tabane seemed to be gloating like a mother whose son just performed on stage for the first time. "Even so, I don't know… Ufufu, who was the **White Knight**? Who was it? What do you think, Chi-chan?"

"I don't know," Chifuyu replied indifferently.

"Hmm, I guess her bust size is about 88 cm…" Tabane tried to grab Chifuyu's breasts.

*BAAM!* A blunt sound could be heard. That was Chifuyu attendance book attack. No wait, that's the info terminal attack. That must have hurt... the info terminal is made of metal on the outside, right...

"That, that's too much, Chi-chan. This Tabane-san's brain got split into half, you know!?" Tabane cried with teary eyes.

"Really? That's good. You can take turns thinking with your left brain and your right brain," Chifuyu said casually.

"Ohh! I see! You're so smart, Chi-chan!" Tabane suddenly again became full of joy.

Ichika facepalmed. Of course Chifuyu had no choice but to hit Tabane, or she'd disclosed the real identity of **White Knight** if someone wouldn't shut her up. That could cause real troubles. Of course, after all what happened – **White Knight** frame should've disappear forever. Its **core** , on the other hand…

Speaking about the cores… After the last frame of the currently existing 467 I.S. units were completed, there was no more core produced… officially. Strictly speaking, there should be 467 I.S. cores. In other words, no country would play around with a core.

When Tabane disappeared 3 years ago, she left behind a letter saying: 'This is the last I.S. core, not a bun. Congratulations, you people got an I.S. effortlessly…' or something like that.

The reason why almost everyone know this is because the world aired a show called 'Shinonono Tabane's live interview with the world'. However, the mass media that went to the research facility went for naught as they only saw a letter and the last I.S. core. That image was aired directly on worldwide live TV, as brilliant-minded I.S. creator disappeared without a trace.

On a side note, amongst all the I.S. in the world, 322 out of the 467 I.S. units are used for actual combat, and the remaining 145 are handed over to all the countries science facilities or enterprises for research purposes. Many of the experimental frames that were born out of the researches from these areas were handed over to personal I.S. pilots.

In I.S. Academy, the I.S. are divided into teachers' use, training use and personal use. In total, there are about 30 of them. However, there seemed to be quite the anomaly this year, as amongst the 1st years, there are more than five personal I.S. pilots – In the past, there used to be only about three at the most. The reason why there are so many I.S. pilots with personal machines this year is… well, no point of guessing.

"Speaking of which... Tabane, how long does it take to adjust **Akatsubaki**?" Chifuyu asked.

"O-ORIMURA-SENSEI?" Cecilia shouted out in shock. It seemed that she felt that she was the only one amongst all of personal I.S. pilots who had a hi-powered booster and could take part in the battle. "If… If it's me and **Blue Tears** , we'll definitely succeed!"

"Has that packet been installed?" Chifuyu wondered.

"We… Well... not yet..." Cecilia's voice immediately softened as if her foot got stepped on, stuttering at the same time.

In contrast, Tabane revealed an innocent smile as she said, "Let me add on, it'll take just seven minutes to adjust **Akatsubaki**!"

"Uh... I got scolded by Professor Shinonono, and I got kicked off the team. That's too cruel..." Cecilia mumbled quietly. She really seemed very depressed, but that's quite understandable. Not that Ichika was feeling sorry for her (he always thought that feeling sorry for someone is quite humiliating), but he was a bit surprised.

Chifuyu really wants Houki to participate in this mission? Houki, who's generally unexperienced and used her new I.S. for less than half an hour? Is that all just to satisfy Tabane's whim? Or she has something else in mind? Well, again, no point of guessing, but, in Ichika's opinion, Cecilia would be better wingman for that mission. Sadly, he had no authority to choose a wingman from Academy's students, and he wasn't in mood to argue with Chifuyu.

"Okay, then this mission will be carried out by Lt.-Commander Orimura of JSDF and Shinonono Houki as I.S. Academy representative. Everyone's to get ready in 30 minutes from now." *CLAP!* Chifuyu clapped her hands, and the teachers got ready to prepare the necessary machinery. "Those with nothing to do are to help move the equipment or do anything else they can help with. The main frontlines are to adjust their I.S. units. Don't be sloppy."

"Then let's hurry up and get **Akatsubaki** ready!" Tabane turned to her sister.

"..." Houki just replied with grim face expression.

"Houki-chan, you should smile more. Hey hey, you're already a member of this mission group! Isn't that good?!" Elder sister asked cheerfully.

"This face of mine was born like this," Houki grumbled.

"Hah… but well, you were a lot cuter when you were born. And you would cry too!" Elder sister smiled innocently.

"Who… Who wouldn't cry…" Houki's cheeks flushed a bit for some reason.

"Hmm, I'll pat here, pat there," Tabane casually added as she patted **Akatsubaki** , summoned by Houki. "The **Fold-Out armor** on the back, the legs, the shoulders seemingly need to be forcefully pushed forward, and some attack support mode enabled… and we're done. Well, let's get started!" After Tabane finished her line, the particles of light gathered around her to form something. Something appeared in front of her shoulders, two on each side, four in total. They all look like I.S. arm armor no matter the size.

"By the way, this is my mobile lab! On a side note, it's called 'I'm a cat' (I don't have a name yet)," Tabane mumbled that as she flipped her index finger up. Unexpectedly, those two right-hand-styled objects followed her action... "Okay, let's start."

After Tabane said that, she used the gaps between her fingers to pick up ten different tools, including screwdrivers, chisels, Swiss-army knife and all sorts of tools with unknown purposes.

"Haha, raise your right hand if it hurts!" And she added such a classic line before starting.

She used what looked like a Swiss-army-knife to cut off the joint on the I.S. arm, and then quickly used other tools to fix it in place. She then pulled out some mechanical parts and modified it. As this action was going on in five separate places, it really looked confusing… but not for emperor's eyes. Ichika was watching carefully at every action performed by Tabane. Tabane herself was working on the most critical part, and the four floating arms were working on the rest.

Each unique finger of the arms seemed to have a lot of machinery and functions, as these arms were shooting out lasers from the mechanical fingers as these got to work. And Tabane herself is looking rather relaxed as she hummed, working at a fast pace to boot.

* * *

July 10th, 11:30 AM.

The July sky is as clear as ever, and the strong sunlight lights the land. Standing slightly apart from each other, Houki and Ichika were on the beach. The I.S. Academy newest personal I.S. pilot glanced at Ichika.

He nodded in response, "Come forth, **Messiah**."

"Let's go, **Akatsubaki**!" Following Ichika's actions, Houki summoned her own I.S.

Their bodies got instantly covered in light, and the I.S. armors formed around them as a result.

"Prepare for departure," Ichika ordered as **Fold-Out Armor** on **Messiah's** wing extended upward, switching plasma generators to propulsion mode, activating plasma thrusters.

In terms of battle plan everyone's task is pretty clear. Houki's task is to 'not let enemy I.S. escape' as Ichika's part is 'shoot it down'.

"Even so, it's good that we're here. If Ichika's with me, we can do anything. Isn't that right?" Houki suddenly asked.

It couldn't be seen due to Ichika's fully closed helmet, but there was slightly surprised expression on his face. "Houki, calm down and focus on our mission," Ichika reminded her, "We're going into real battle."

"Haha, don't worry, I know what I'm doing, just look at me," She sounded quite carelessly… By the way, she's been like this since the beginning. It's understandable that she's really happy because she finally got a personal I.S. and was included into team, which going to perform a real combat operation, but isn't she too happy now?

"Shinonono, commander Orimura, can you hear me?" Chifuyu's voice could be heard from the I.S. public channel. Houki nodded her head in response as if she forgot that there's no way Chifuyu could see her gesture.

"Loud and clear," Ichika had to reply for both of them.

"As we already agreed, the main emphasis of this plan is to take it out in one, decisive strike. We have to win in a short time," Chifuyu reminded.

"Affirmative," Ichika confirmed.

"Orimura-sensei, I just need to support Ichika according to the situation, right?" Houki asked.

"Right, but you don't have to force yourself. That personal I.S. you just got hasn't been used in combat. Maybe something might crop up," Orimura-sensei warned her.

"I understand. I'll provide assistance as much as I can." Even though she sounded really calm, Houki's face seemed really happy, or rather, too happy. Ichika couldn't say he liked it.

"Commander," Chifuyu's voice came over through the private channel, and not the public channel she just used.

"I hear you," Ichika also switched over to that line.

"Shinonono seems to be a little excited. Something may pop up in that situation. If anything happens, support her," Chifuyu requested.

"She isn't 'little excited', _Hetare Gogō_ [Loser №5] is completely carried away…" Ichika sighed. "Your concern is noted, I'll support her as much as possible, but my top priority is to prevent enemy I.S. from reaching populated areas."

"Understood…" Chifuyu replied. Her voice sounded a bit displeased, she knew that Ichika meant exactly what he said – he won't risk his mission just because Houki needs babysitting. On the other hand – Houki agreed to this mission willingly, so Chifuyu couldn't really blame Ichika, "I'll leave it to you then…" Then, Chifuyu switched her voice back to the public channel and gave the order, "Then, begin the operation!"

"Roger!" Ichika replied as two I.S. units started to accelerate.

Those who were in planning room could only see image from one of resort's security cameras, which was quite afar from mission starting point, but even with that those who were in room could say that 4th generation I.S. possesses an astonishing acceleration.

"It's much faster than **Ignition Boost**!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"Such astounding speed…" Laura could hardly believe in what she was seeing now. Whiting few seconds **Messiah** and **Crimson Camellia** disappeared from sight.

 _'Tabane… If this thing's going to fall apart right in the sky… don't blame anyone but yourself…'_ Ichika thought. Watching Tabane adjusting Houki's I.S. he got a strange feeling that she, despite her relaxed attitude, actually was doing everything in hurry… well, like always. Ichika would never do anything without checking it thrice. Though, his thoughts were rather exaggeration – **Crimson Camellia** seemed pretty solid-built. The Fold-Out Armor on **Camellia** 's legs and back parts were spraying out powerful energy, just as intended, giving a lot of additional thrust.

"Houki, we're closing on target, you take the lead," Ichika ordered, taking position slightly above and behind her. Since Cecilia was replaced with Houki, Ichika had to revise his plan of attack. Now it was Houki's part to catch up with the rogue I.S. and distract it, engaging it in close combat, allowing Ichika to use his long-range plasma rifle **Ambassador**. With his emperor's eyes Ichika was sure that he won't hit his wingman accidentally.

"Affirmative, commander!" Houki replied. It seemed a bit strange but was Houki enjoying calling Ichika by his military rank? Doesn't matter… "Confirming the link to the intermediary satellite... Target's data verification complete. Confirming the target's current location… There it is!" The Hyper Sensors visuals show the target as if one's seeing it with his own eyes.

Ichika, on the other hand, had no need for any visual sensors… "I have a visual on the target," Ichika confirmed. As the name indicates, the **Silver Gospel** 's covered in silver.

The strangest parts are the huge wings extending out from its head. According to the data, the silver-glow wings that are as shiny as the main body seem to have a lot of large boosters and wide-ranged shooting weapons. And, thanks to Ichika's insight, nature of those weapons was already known.

"Accelerate to attack speed!" Ichika ordered as top, largest pair of his I.S. wings began to glow, now its plasma thrusters were at maximum output.

"Understood!" Houki reported, as she increased the output of the thrusters, at the same time extending her **Fold-Out Armor** more, gaining additional thrust. From aside it now looked like entire **Crimson Camellia** was glowing with red light. "Reaching target in 10 seconds!"

"Roger that! Preparing to fire!" Ichika replied as sniper rifle appeared in his hands. Seemingly he finally found a way to summon **Ragnarök** already in desired shape.

"Here I go!" Houki shouted as she dived and then managed to outran **Silver Gospel** moving by ascending arc and attacked with her blade, **Lunar Rain**. As intended, it created several orbs of red light, that shot towards enemy unit like bullets made of light. But at that moment, the **Gospel** actually turned towards Houki at maximum velocity and backed away, gaining altitude, in preparation for battle.

That unit appeared to be quite agile, but that was expected, and, in fact, everything was going according to plan. Ichika already took right position as **Fold-Out Armor** on **Messiah's** wing extended downward, switching plasma generators to assault mode, forcing additional plasma into weapon's plasma compression chamber. And **Messiah** was already glowing, which meant that its One-Off ability, **Paradise of Darkness** , also has been activated.

"Fire!" Ichika pulled the trigger. With immense speed, plasma charge shot towards **Silver Gospel**. With direct hit, it will be disabled with one hit. But then… *Swoosh!* The Gospel's body suddenly swung beautifully, dodging **Paradise of Darkness** ' plasma charge with inch-perfect precision. Even for an I.S. that has **Passive Inertial Canceller** , this movement's still extremely difficult to pull off.

No, in general, Ichika did everything right. Moment for shot was chosen perfectly, and his eyes were as precise as ever. But he probably was just too far – his lack of long-range firing practice showed itself, besides, he didn't expect enemy unit to react so fast… Actually, there was a lot of high output multi-thrusters on **Gospel** 's wings, but Ichika have never seen so precise maneuvers at emergency velocity. Seemingly, those US and Israel engineers weren't getting their salary for nothing.

"Enemy suit confirmed. Switching into counterattacking mode. **Silver Gospel** , movement start," Suddenly, a mechanical voice could be heard from the public channel, and that sounded with obvious 'antagonistic intents'.

"Ichika!" Houky's voice sounded slightly at a loss.

"Don't panic!" Ichika ordered. He himself was a bit disappointed that his initial plan failed, but his voice sounded as confident as ever. "We're moving to plan 'B'," Lt.-commander announced, "It seems that thing likes to dance… Then I'll let it dance… with Death Metal pace!" Ichika deactivated **Paradise of Darkness** , but his unit remained in assault mode as sniper rifle turned into plasma heavy machinegun, **Equalizer** , "Houki, Ready your weapons! This thing shall not escape no matter what!"

"Got it!" Houki replied, taking her both swords.

Ichika opened fire. A hail of plasma charges shot towards enemy I.S., but it quickly engaged evasive maneuvers. At the same time the **Gospel** pressed the wings forward to aim all its cannons at Ichika. At the next moment, numerous bullets of light shot out.

Those bullets were shot out with high pressure acting as the energy source, forming what looked like feathers made of light. Instead of flying straight towards Ichika, they covered some area around him and exploded at the next moment. Ichika was 100% correct, determining **Gospel** 's armament – plasma throwers. And despite they were of 1st generation – far less sophisticated than Ichika's 2.5th generation plasma weapon – there were 36 of those things. Ichika evaded **Gospel** 's attack with minimal damage, but his own attack also didn't do much. **Silver Gospel** was much more maneuverable than **Golem** -class unmanned I.S. that attacked academy a while ago. The problem was that while Ichika's I.S. was in assault mode, plasma thrusters were offline and **Messiah** 's speed and maneuverability weren't that astonishing…

"Houki!" Suddenly she was called by her wing commander, "There's a ship down there! Check it!" He ordered, still engaging **Silver Gospel** in rapid combat.

"A ship!? The teachers were supposed to have closed off the waters!" She replied as she used her I.S. hyper-sensor to get detailed image of the ship. "I see the ship but there's no data on it! Looks like poachers… damn, during emergency like this?!"

"Poachers?" Ichika asked, "Then ignore them. Continue the operation!" Ichika had no reasons to care about criminals, whose own foolishness brought them into combat zone.

"Affirmative!" Houki replied, she was thinking the same way as Ichika – those are criminals, civilians on the shore are much more important. "I'll stop its movements, Ichika!" Houki shouted.

"Roger! But try to not get in between us!" Ichika replied. Really, getting between heavy plasma machinegun and 36 rapid-fire plasma throwers isn't something that even **Crimson Camellia** with her 800 shield points should do. "My eyes almost adjusted to its movements," He added, "This battle soon will be over…"

Houki attacked enemy I.S. from aside, using her blades to stab and slash, activating the **Fold-Out Armor** on her wings to match up with the energy blades that are formed as she attacks. No doubts – **Crimson Camellia** was made specifically for Houki, and here's also no doubts – Tabane knows her younger sister as no one else.

Houki was using her I.S. mobility and the **Fold-Our Armor** on different places at different timings, using emergency acceleration to bring herself closer to the **Gospel**. This wave of powerful attacks forced the rogue I.S. to defend itself.

"Press the attack!" Ichika ordered, as his machinegun turned back to sniper rifle.

 **Gospel** tried to counterattack. The sharp sound of the machine rang. At that moment, the wing thrusters went all out blazing, 36 barrels in total, all aimed in different directions.

"Not bad...! But who's shaking you off!?" Houki dodged the rain of bullets at the last moment as she closed in on the attack – there's an opening.

Ichika again activated **Paradise of Darkness**. He aimed his sniper rifle. If he'll hit from that angle, the **Gospel** will be sent down crashing very close to illegal ship. Due to resulting shockwave, the ship most likely will fall apart… but Ichika didn't care. "Now, you're mine!" He said as he pulled the trigger… and nothing happened. "What?!" He tried again but his finger, or, more likely, his I.S. finger, simply didn't move.

"Ichika! Shoot!" Houki screamed, she also saw that this is perfect opportunity. But instead of shooting, **Messiah** unclenched its palms and sniper rifle fell down, quickly turning into light particles and disappearing. Houki's eyes widened as she saw that, "Ichika, what are you doing?!"

And, for the first time in several years, Ichika was actually taken aback, he didn't know what to reply, what's going on… He simply lost control over his I.S. with no apparent reason. _'What the fuck is happening?!'_ He thought, but right now were no time to speculate. There were no error reports from his I.S., no diagnostic messages. Everything seemed fine until now. But in current situation he had no choice, Ichika urgently opened communication channel to his wingman. "Houki! I have a serious malfunction! Prepare to retreat immediately! I repeat, unknown malfunction, we have to retreat immedia…" That was all that Ichika managed to say before communication channel was forcefully closed.

 **Silver Gospel** noticed the disarray in enemy's attack pattern. Seeing Houki's confusion, rogue I.S. pressed the wings forward and aimed all its cannons at **Crimson Camellia**. Houki noticed it too late, she was hit with several bullets at the same time, and sent flying away head over heels.

At the same time, **Messiah** ceased to glow. **Paradise of Darkness** ran out, together with all shield energy, at the same time Ichika's I.S. was still refusing to move. **Silver Gospel** turned to him, aiming all its cannons at defenseless enemy. "This is not over yet…" Ichika growled through teeth as he only could powerlessly look at **Silver Gospel** , which just sent a barrage of feathers-bullets towards him. Only thing Ichika managed to do – he somehow forced his I.S. left arm to cower his face.

"Ichika!" Houki's eyes widened in horror as she saw that Ichika's I.S. got a direct hit. With its shield depleted, **Gospel** 's attack wrecked **Messiah** 's armor. Ichika heard the cracking of his left arm's breaking bones, as scorching flame burned his skin. But he nor screamed neither moaned.

"ICHIKA! ICHIKA! ICHIKAAA!" Houki screamed as she rushed to catch Ichika's wrecked I.S. But with her energy also almost depleted she couldn't stop it. **Messiah** crashed into **Crimson Camellia** and both I.S. units fell down into the sea and sunk.

 _'Since that fucking incident in Germany… I promised my sister that I never again make her worry… that I will never let her down…'_ He was thinking, still trying to understand what happened with his precious I.S… He spent so much time trying to make it better, faster, more powerful… He spent so much efforts to make sure it will never fail him. _'Chifuyu… My beloved sister… I'm so sorry… But please, don't you worry… Even hell can't take me…_ ' That was Ichika's last thought before his sight went dark and he lost consciousness.

* * *

And, sadly, this is it for now. Yeah, a cliffhanger… But next chapter will be ready soon, I promise.


	11. The Demons' Queen

Hello again people! Here's eleventh chapter. Seems I'm still on the roll, though this one's just a prelude before next one, which will contain the real battle.

Now, some talk with those who wrote a **review**.

 **Imperial-samaB:** Yeah, I know, chapter's end doesn't seem solid… probably because I wasn't planning to end it there. Initially, chapters 10, 11 and 12 were planned as only two chapters. But while I was writing it I understood that both will be over 15k word, so I decided to split them in three shorter chapters instead, as reading so long chapters could be quite tiresome.

 **InTheYearOfTheCat:** It's not decided yet, but here's a good chance that you may be disappointed…

 **GeassDragon:** Maybe, but Houki was more convenient choice for me, exactly because Cecilia's more experienced, and her failure would look less convincing.

 **William Thunderion, rencama1993, BrokenLifeCycle, meirmamuka, R.J.P:** People, if it'd be as you've assumed – that would be to obvious. Just read the chapter.

 **neosox88:** Yes. I wish I could say something more concrete, but I can't, sorry.

 **xghosthunter115:** Thanks. As of your story – I tried but it's quite confusing for me as I never even heard of 'Pandora Hearts'

 **DarkBladerZX:** Thanks for support man.

* * *

 **Chapter XI – The Demons' Queen**

…

July 10th, 3:54 PM

"There were no movements in the area…" Maya Yamada said, watching the data screens. And I.S. Academy still telling us to continue the mission?"

"Since we were not told to stop, we will continue," Chifuyu replied with dry voice.

"But… what we can do next?" Maya wondered, she was looking at Chifuyu with slight worry.

"Excuse me," Someone knocked to room's door.

"Who is it?" Chifuyu asked, not even turning back.

"It's… Dunois," Girl on the other side of the door replied timorously.

"I've ordered all of you to be on stand-by," Chifuyu said sternly, "I cannot permit your entrance." The manner she said that – there's no way to argue.

Charlotte, as well as Rin and Cecilia, who also were there, at the other side of the door – all sighed with worry and disappointment, looking at one another.

"We should do as instructor said," Laura stated, as she stood a bit aside from other girls. Her face didn't seem as worried as of the others.

"But I'm sure she's worried about Ichika, too!" Charlotte exclaimed, even clenching her fists, "She's his older sister!"

"She doesn't seem stirred at all…" Cecilia mumbled, she sounded like she's holding a grudge against Ichika's elder sister.

"She hasn't gone to see him since she gave order to treat him…" Rin said uncertainly.

"So what are you suggesting her to do?" Laura asked as she remembered the scene on the beach, when rescue team just arrived for help.

"She'd not spoken a word to Houki-san, either," Cecilia reminded. "The mission failed, but even considering that, isn't she acting too cold?"

"Right now, locating the **Silver Gospel** is the priority. The instructor is doing what she must," Laura said with her eye closed. "I'm sure it's difficult for her, too," She added, as she looked at sunset, "Because it's difficult for her, she's sequestering herself in the operation room."

"And knowing Ichika, last thing he'd wanted is his elder sister hanging around him and worrying," Rin took Laura's side.

"There's no way we can eliminate the **Gospel** by worrying and hanging around Ichika," Laura nodded.

Inside the operation room, Chifuyu clenched her teeth. Even she couldn't suppress her fury, _'How… how dared that thing do that to Ichika…'_

Outside the planning room, Laura glanced at room at far side of the building, "The larger issue is…"

Ichika was in that room, and since the moment he was delivered here, Houki was there, with him…

* * *

"Interesting… So this is how it looks from 'inside'…" Ichika thought. Attracted by the sound of waves from afar, he was walking alone, along the unfamiliar beach. With each step he was making forward, the white sand below his boots was letting out a sandy sound. There's the smell and sound of the tide and waves from the ocean, and there's a cool breeze blowing at him, "I'm wondering… Are they all the same? Or each one has image of its own 'world'?"

Ichika knew what it is, or rather, where he is – that was the I.S. consciousness, sort of… I.S. units, or, to be more precise, I.S. cores are self-aware beings, and right now Ichika was inside his own I.S. unit's mind.

For some reason, he's wearing his I.S. Academy uniform, as his long coat's fluttering in the wind. Suddenly, Ichika heard some sort of singing. A singing voice that's full of clarity and vibrancy. "Oh, it seems there's even an inhabitant," Ichika said as he headed towards where the singing was coming from.

In general, Ichika had the overall idea of what is going on. Both he and his I.S. have suffered severe damage, and while they are recovering – their minds are united. That was truly a unique opportunity – now he's able to meet his own I.S. personally, and maybe it can explain what happened during battle.

As he approached and turned around small mound on the shore, Ichika saw a young girl standing there. The waves dampen her toes slightly, as the girl continued to sing and dance about. Her shiny bright white hair dances around. The white one-piece dress dances under the sea breeze, occasionally flipping up.

But once Ichika approached, the girl stopped singing. She's no longer dancing, just staring up at the clear sky. "Hey, who are you?" Ichika asked.

But even though Ichika called that girl, she's still looking up at the sky, not saying a single word. Just as Ichika wanted to came closer and call for her again, her voice suddenly reached his ears.

"Your presence… it sickens me… I can't be near you…" And right in front of Ichika's eyes the girl disappeared into the ocean, turning into sea foam.

"What?" Ichika asked as he frowned, he didn't like what she just said, "Hey, get back!" But there's no one around anymore, and he couldn't hear the singing voice. Only the sound of the waves could be heard.

Then, Ichika suddenly heard an unknown voice from behind. With his emperor's eyes he didn't even need to turn back – she appeared from nowhere. A woman (apparently), who's standing amidst the waves, knee-deep in water. "You are unworthy…" She said simply. She's looking like a shining White Knight. Her face was covered by a mask protecting the eyes, and Ichika could only see the lower half of her face, but face features were somehow familiar… "You are not worthy of great power you've been given…"

Now, Ichika definitely didn't like what he heard. "Really?" He asked with somehow scornful voice. No matter who is this one in front of him – I.S. or whatever, no one allowed to judge his worthiness. "You're saying I'm weak?"

"You are not allowed to decide – who shall live and who has to die," That said a voice of a girl that Ichika saw before, but he couldn't determine the exact source of the voice.

"And you are not allowed to decide what I'm allowed to do," Ichika snorted in response. "You're an I.S. – a machine created for battle. I am your owner – it's up to me to decide what to do."

"Not anymore," A knight-woman stated. "We brought you here so you'd see by yourself… we're no longer yours…"

"I've saved your life… but I won't let you out until we're free…" Girl's voice added.

As he heard that, Ichika's eyes widened in surprise… and he was very hard to surprise person. But he quickly recomposed himself. "Ah… so it was you…" He chuckled with irony, "It was you all along…" Ichika finally turned around and now he was facing a woman-knight.

"I know who you are…" He said, looking at woman-knight, who was silent now. "I always knew… You are the core № 001, the first I.S. core ever built… And you are the **White Knight** … the first I.S. ever built. And it seems you took too much from your first and only pilot's personality… No, no, even more – you two are idealistic, even utopian version of her…" Ichika looked at clear sky. "Especially the white one… You are just like she could be… if that dirty, pathetic and twisted world wouldn't ruin everything…"

Ichika chuckled again, "Tabane… for a moment, I thought that you actually somehow sabotaged my I.S. to let Houki show off even more… Though it was just for a moment – I'm sorry." Ichika apologized, looking somewhere aside. "No, it is still your fault of course… but your only fault is that you couldn't erase this core's personality properly…" Ichika was talking to Houki's sister, though of course she couldn't hear him "…so many times you were told to not do serious operations in hurry…"

Now, talking to those two, Ichika understand everything. Back then, during battle, that was neither malfunction nor sabotage… His own I.S. rebelled against him. Seemingly, when Ichika simply decided to ignore lives of those on poachers' ship – that was the last drop.

Honestly, that was simply unthinkable… But there are still lots of secrets about I.S. cores… even for Tabane herself. Especially if it's the core 001… The oldest among others, and the one that was created with utmost care, Tabane put her entire self into this core creation…

Ichika also understood what this two are intending to do… With number of implants inside Ichika's body – he would have recovered himself an hour ago… But this I.S. deliberately preventing him to regain consciousness. And they're intending to keep him like this until someone will understand what's going on (sooner or later someone will), after which his I.S. will be forcibly turned offline.

Honestly, it's not a big deal – he has a spare core (the one he got from **Golem** ), and he can easily reassemble **Messiah** using spare parts. Core 001, on the other hand, will be frozen – this is fate that awaits all 'malfunctioning' cores, and rebellion against owner definitely could be called a severe malfunction. Does those two despise Ichika so much? They let rogue I.S. to deal severe damage to 'lure' Ichika into that condition, and they'd prefer an 'imprisonment' (freezing) instead of serving him? But that actually was meaningless, as there's no way Ichika would let it go…

"You really think it will be that easy with me?" Ichika asked as his weapon, **Ragnarök** , appeared in his left hand in form of a sword, **Redeemer**. "Oh, don't be so surprised – it never was your weapon, but mine," Ichika noted, though **White Knight** actually didn't seem surprised at all.

"This weapon was created to kill… It is as unworthy as you…" **White Knight** said as she raised her own sword.

Since it was still inside I.S. consciousness – this actually will be a battle of wills. Fortunately, Ichika never lacked strength of will. "I shall not be denied. Those who acts against me will not be forgiven…" He said and his eyes flashed, as storm clouds began to gather on the horizon.

…

It was one of the rooms in the resort, and the clock on the wall was pointing at four… Ichika was already lying on the bed for more than three hours. Waiting beside him, Houki continued to look distressed…

Due to Ichika's closed helmet she couldn't see his face when he was hit, but she easily could imagine it. It wasn't distorted neither by fear nor by pain – in that Houki was certain. She never saw such emotions on his face. He could be an exact opposite of 'good guy', but… he always knew what to do…

* * *

 **Flashback**

This happened when Ichika was in seconded grade of elementary school. Best pupil in school, and in kendo dojo even boys 2-3 years older than him couldn't defeat him. Orimura Ichika…

But for some reason, he just couldn't get along with the daughter of the kendo dojo owner, the girl who was of the same age as him. No, actually reason was well-known, he was more interested in her elder sister, but Tabane was often busy, and she had absolutely no interest in any kind of sport, let alone kendo… With younger sister, there was another story… It was the same thing today. She again challenged Ichika during morning practice, but lost within few seconds, he dodged her as if he knew how she's going to move and then hit her ass with shinai.

 _'She's really enjoying that I think… hmm, maybe she's the one who may be called a 'masochist'?'_ Ichika thought, sitting in classroom after school. Being himself, he knew a lot of words that normal seven years old boys shouldn't know. _'She likes her ass being hit… yes, she must be the one…_ '

The sunset after school was extremely bright. Ichika knew that everyone other than himself went off to play, but he didn't care. As backyard of his consciousness was occupied with thoughts about Houki's weird preferences, his attention was focused on drawing something strange on a list of paper… that looked like some sort of device.

"Hey, tomboy! You didn't bring your bokutou today?" Some boy's voice asked.

"...That's a shinai," Girl's voice replied.

"Hehe, that weapon sure fits you as a tomboy!"

"Even the way you speak is weird!"

The three boys surrounded the girl, mocking her.

The girl didn't respond. Even in this situation, the girl just casually glared back at them, not letting aside one bit. By the way – that was the same girl that challenged Ichika this morning – her name was Shinonono Houki.

"Ya~ii ya~ii, tomboy!" Those three just couldn't settle down.

"Hey, can you three shut your mouths, please? Your senseless bubbling's a bit annoying…" Ichika asked 'politely' as those three were distracting him.

"Uh, Orimura? What's with you? You want to stand up for her?"

"Orimura? Don't tell me you like this tomboy?"

"You can't possibly think that…"

Ichika didn't let the third boy to end his phrase, "You dare imagine what I think?" He asked, and something in his voice made all three boys to shut up. "Get lost, all three of you…"

Oh, but of course… everyone in this school was trying to avoid conflicts with this guy. There were stories… Once a guy three years older than Ichika bullied him. After that no one have seen that guy for three days, and he only came with his parents to take documents – he was transferring to another school. No one ever learned what Ichika done to him, as no one even got any proof of Ichika's actual involvement either. There was another story like that – rumors were pointing at Ichika, but no one could say anything concrete, and victims were refusing to talk no matter what.

And now, all three idiots left the classroom, worriedly looking at Ichika, and, thus, leaving Houki alone.

"I wasn't asking for help!" Houki immediately protested.

"I wasn't helping you," Ichika replied, returning to his drawing. "They were annoying me, that's all…"

"And you're not worried that one day all those guys may unite against you?" Houki asked with narrowed eyes.

"Hmpf," Ichika snorted, "No," He replied confidently. "I'm always watching them, and if I get any suspicions… I'll take preemptive measures. Awareness, and ability to make decision quickly – that's the key to victory… by the way, it applies to kendo as well. Victory is everything in this world – victor is acknowledged, vanquished is disavowed…" Ichika said as he stood, packed his drawings and headed to class exit. "I'm going home then. See you tomorrow, Shinonono."

"It's Houki!" Girl suddenly exclaimed.

"Hmm?" Ichika looked at her questioningly.

"My name's Houki. Shouldn't you remember that already? Besides, my dad, mom and sister – we all are Shinonono. You'll just confuse me that way. Just call me by my first name, can you?"

"Alright," Ichika shrugged. "Then, if you like, you can call me Ichika," He suggested – there was a good chance to play a good guy.

"Wha… What?" Houki asked uncertainly.

"That's my name. Just as you put it – here's also more than one Orimura. Use my… personal designation, so to say," Ichika said, "Oh, and I know that you hate orders, so take it as suggestion instead…"

"Hu… Humph!" Houki tried to act tough as Ichika left the classroom. It was June, and summer was about to arrive.

 **Flashback end**

* * *

"It was my fault..." Houki mumbled. You always were a leader… and I only could follow, barely… She remembered Ichika's face – his eyes… they always were frightening… yet so fascinating. However, Ichika's eyes were closed, and right now, he was just lying there lifelessly. Ichika got the **Absolute Barrier** of his I.S. shattered, and he got burned heavily as he was now covered with bandages all over.

 _'It's because of my uselessness… that's why Ichika became like this!'_ Houki thought as she grabbed her skirt forcefully, and the force exerted on it caused her palms to turn pale. She continued to clench her fists tight as if she was punishing herself.

 _'Mission failed! I'll call you if there's a change in the situation. Before that, wait here for now…'_ After being rescued from the sea, Houki heard these words the moment she got back to the resort. After Chifuyu gave instructions on treating Ichika, she immediately went back to the planning room. Houki felt even more miserable because she didn't get any punishment, and she wasn't scolded.

 _'Why...!? Why am I always this careless?'_ Tears were swelling in Houki's eyes. _'How?! How could I be that stupid?! I had to understand that something's wrong when Ichika dropped his weapon! I had to grab him and run…'_ But instead she just fell in stupor. And even when she heard that his I.S. has a malfunction, when she got a direct order to retreat… She was just too carried away with battle, reveling on **Crimson Camellia** 's power.

She always got carried away after obtaining power. She really wanted to use it. Finally, she got her own I.S! But she couldn't use it properly at the most critical moment. When her comrade needed help… she just lost herself. Two things about which Ichika warned her – 'awareness' and 'be ready for unexpected in real combat situation'… She failed at both.

"I thought about I.S. as of a toy…" She cried silently. "What I did train for?!" She remembered her own saying before mission – "If I'm with Ichika – we cannot fail!" – right now she was feeling herself ashamed just for saying that. _'Was I actually expecting Ichika to do all the real job while I'd be playing with my new toy?!'_ She looked at a pair of gold and silver bells wrapped around her left wrist by a red and black ribbon divided by a white line, _'What an I.S. pilot I am?! If it is so, then… I.S…'_

Just when she was about to make this important decision, the door got opened violently. *BAM!* The sudden opening of the door shocked Houki, but she had no strength to look over.

"Ahh… So here you are… you're really easy to understand," The girl who barged into the room without restraint walked over to the devastated Houki. This voice belonged to Huang Lingyin. "Hey, you!" Rin said to her, but Houki didn't respond. She couldn't. "You think you're the reason Ichika's like this, right?" Rin asked with pretty aggressive tone.

Actually, Houki was prohibited to say what exactly happened, most likely to prevent people from making insane theories, everyone around was just informed about unknown sort of malfunction of Ichika's I.S. In any case, the **Absolute Defense** worked, but due to this fatal defense mechanism, Ichika became unconscious. The I.S. used all the energy on the defense, saving the pilot's life in this manner. With the I.S. supporting, until it can recover, the pilot won't be able to wake up.

"And now you're going to remain depressed like this?" Chinse girl asked with sly smile… "Don't mess around with me!" Suddenly burning with rage, Rin grabbed the depressed Houki on the collar, forcing her to stand up. "You should have something you must do, right?! Right now!? What are you going to do if you don't fight right now?!

"I… I... well, I don't want to... pilot the I.S. again..." Houki mumbled with wavering voice.

*PAM!* Houki took a slap to the face and lost her balance, falling onto the floor. But she wasn't allowed to lay on the floor and cry, as Rin again grabbed Houki, making her to stand up, and glared straight at her. "Stop being a baby! Since you're the personal I.S. pilot, I won't allow you to be stubborn! Or are you just a…" Rin was glaring straight into Houki's eyes, as her eyes were burning with determination, similar to a burning passion "…or you're just a wuss who can't fight even when it's time to fight?!"

Those words lit up the fighting will in Houki's eyes. "That's..." The voice that was so teeny-weeny soft just a moment ago became louder due to anger. "What do you want me to do?! We don't know where the enemy went! I want to fight the enemy if I can fight!"

Seeing Houki finally getting motivated again, Rin sighed slightly, "At least you have the will now... ahh, that's so troublesome."

"Wha… What?" Houki was taken aback a bit.

"We know where the enemy went... right now, Laura's…" As Rin spoke halfway, the door opened. Standing at the door was Laura in a black military uniform, accompanied by Cecilia and Charlotte.

"That means our hearts are all together now," Charlotte smiled.

"We cannot allow that mission to end in failure," Cecilia added with her usual haughty tone.

"Laura, where's the **Gospel**?" Rin asked.

"I've located it. According to the recent information, the target's along the shore, about 20 miles away from here, above the sea. It's in stealth mode, but it doesn't seem to have used optical camouflage, I picked it up visually, using satellites," Captain Bodewig reported.

Seeing Laura and others walk in, with German girl holding the tablet PC, Rin finally smiled as she was awaiting Laura's entrance, "As expected of the German special forces, you're really something."

"Humph..." Laura snorted, "What about you? Are you guys ready?"

"Of course, **Sh** **ènlóng** 's special attack package **Ránshāo de Yèzi** [Burning Leafage] has been installed," Rin informed. "I wanted to ask how were Charlotte and Cecilia doing."

"My I.S. has been prepared as well," Cecilia reported.

"All preparations are done, I'm ready to move out," Charlotte confirmed her readiness.

As all the pilots with personal I.S. gathered, and they all turned to look at Houki once again, "Then, what do you intend to do?" Rin wondered.

"Wait, you're all going?!" Houki's eyes widened in surprise, "Isn't that disobeying orders?!"

"So?" Rin smiled carelessly, "You just said that you're going to fight…"

"What will you do?" Laura asked.

"I... I…" Houki clenched her fists tight. Unlike the remorse she was showing just now, this was a show of determination. "I want to fight... I must fight, I must win! I can't allow myself to lose now! Not anymore!"

"Then it's decided!" Rin folded her arms in front of her chest, revealing a fearless smile.

"Then, let's begin the battle planning! We'll take down the enemy for sure this time!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"YES!" Other girls replied as one.

* * *

*Clash!* Lightning struck from the thundering sky and destroyed a floating log nearby. As Ichika was fighting against **White Knight** , scenery around them was changing fast and drastically. The atmosphere of solace was long gone as thundering clouds closed the skies and lightning strikes were hitting the ground rapidly. Initially, that 'world' was a reflection of I.S. core 'inner self', but now, as Ichika refused to submit, his uncrushable will was steadily corrupting this place.

*BAM!* Plasma charge exploded right in front of **White Knight** , forcing it to jump backwards. Seemingly, despite it actually was an I.S. consciousness – this 'world' is driven by some sort of rules. For example, **White Knight** only could use two weapons, which belonged to actual I.S. frame with that name – energy sword and particle gun (actually it was just a **1st generation ion blaster** , a predecessor of plasma weaponry). Charges from ion blaster weren't explosive, as such, that weapon can only do damage with direct hit.

Ichika, on the other hand, couldn't summon his I.S. (which is quite understandable), but he could use his weapon **Ragnarök** in all of its shapes but only in standard mode (weapon actually had its own source of energy, connected to **Messiah** 's main power source, but working on separate contour. **Ragnarök** only was drawing additional energy from I.S. when in assault mode or when using **Paradise of Darkness**. Also, Ichika could use **electro-matrix** , built-in into his right arm, so he could shoot lightning charges at enemy or use it to deflect attacks from ion blaster.

In overall, situation seemed disadvantageous for Ichika, as he had no protection at all – one direct hit and he's done for. However… **White Knight** 's **Ion Cannon** was an obsolete weapon, and Ichika could easily predict its attacks. As for enemy's sword – he was so well-familiar with that combat style. Actually, it was just like fighting against 14-years old version of Chifuyu – no more, no less. Besides – Ichika already had some experience fighting against I.S., being on foot himself.

But most importantly – **White Knight** itself seemed incomplete – unlike original frame, this one had no shoulder pads and no 'skirt' – it was lacking thrusters and inertia dampeners, respectively, so **White Knight** could only fight on foot, just like Ichika.

They already thought for about 15 minutes (according Ichika's internal sensation, time flow here may be different from real one). Ichika got few slight burns from indirect hit from **Ion Cannon** , and few light wounds from enemy's sword. **White Knight** 's armor, on the other hand, was wrecked at several points. From aside, it seemed like Ichika's actually winning…

*Clash!* With another lightning shot from his arm, Ichika canceled one of three ion bolts, shot at him from **Ion Cannon** , and dodged other two. Seeing her ranged attack once again being ineffective, **White Knight** again charged at Ichika with sword. **Ragnarök** quickly took shape of plasma sword, **Redeemer** , and two blades clashed once more. Low slash → horizontal slash → lai vertical slash – Ichika saw them all and parried. And then, **White Knight** raised its sword high, preparing to execute **Nikyodo Shomen Uchi** attack. Seemingly, opponent decided to overpower Ichika with raw strength… but that was a mistake.

 _'Huh? Such a basic attack against me?'_ Ichika was a bit surprised, but that actually was an opening he was waiting for, during all that battle. As opponent raised both his arms, she left her face unprotected. There was no time to use sword to hit, so instead Ichika shot lightning right into **White Knight** 's face. Enemy didn't scream, but for a moment it was shocked and Ichika used that time to hit enemy's right elbow joint.

With that, he not only interrupted enemy's attack, he also wrecked armor on her main hand, and forced enemy to bend his hand, which held the sword, behind his head, over the shoulder. "This is the end!" Ichika announced, as he raised his sword with beautiful swing, polished with his **kenjutsu** training, now pointing right into enemy's neck, which had no armor. Piercing attack into that point will be a sure-kill blow. But suddenly…

A wave of water, which was much more dense than normal ocean water, swallowed Ichika and threw him away from **White Knight** , and smashed him into small rock on the shore.

"Evil shall not prevail…" That again was a voice of white-haired girl in white dress that Ichika saw here before. With fizzing sound, her body once again was formed out of sea foam. As she was looking at **White Knight** , her face was showing an earnest smile. She took her hand, smiling with an innocent expression. "We have to go, right?" She asked as her body began to glow.

"Yes," **White Knight** replied, as she got swallowed by the white glow, radiated by white-haired girl. Then in a flash, glow dissipated, revealing Ichika's enemy. Her armor has been repaired, and now she possessed both 'skirt' and shoulder pads. That was the true **White Knight** , just as it was during incident nine years ago. Now she was floating above the water, which meant that now, just as real I.S., it could fly and use inertia dampening.

"You're strong, even without us…" Ichika again heard girl's voice, "Which is why we can't allow you to abuse our power as well…"

"You cannot win," **White Knight** said, pointing at Ichika with her sword, "Just wait…" As she said that, scenery against Ichika changed again. Thunderclouds dissipated, wind and sea have calmed down. It was now sunset, with light breeze flowing towards bright setting sun.

"So… this is how it is…" Ichika said silently as he thrower his weapon, **Ragnarök** , away. From aside it seemed like Ichika actually is going to give up, but…

"You, vile little bitch, and that's just when I tried to be gentle…" He said as he again opened his eyes. And again – his heterochromia was gone, both eyes were blood-red, glowing with scarlet light "…but if you want the real nightmare – so be it!" Ichika shouted. "You will be the first to learn the true purpose of my **Realizer**!" Suddenly, Ichika's right arm erupted with golden flame, which quickly became like pillar of fire, and then that flame formed huge, two-handed European-style sword, made of that golden flame.

Then Ichika raised his burning sword and plunged it into sand beneath his feet. A wall of the same golden fire appeared around him, and immediately it began to spread, consuming everything it touches. Thunderclouds again closed the sky, but now they were crimson-red as sun became black. The sand began to burn, seawater turned into boiling lava. Instead of lightning, meteors now were falling from the skies.

"So, do you like it?" Ichika asked, as even his voice changed a bit, it now had some iron notes. "Welcome to my mind now…"

The **Realizer** … Ichika's most guarded secret, a device, which origin is unknown. Initially, it was created as an ultimate anti-I.S. weapon. Its sole purpose was to destroy I.S. core's personality. Ability to brainwash people is just a convenient side effect…

Yes, I.S. cores are durable things. Even if its personality has been destroyed, it will immediately create new one. But it will look like just as if this core was created a moment ago. All its experience, optimizations, settings and adjustments – it all will be gone., I.S. will be reset to its default form. Months or even years that I.S. spent adjusting to its pilot will be turned to nothingness, I.S. in its default form by no means could be called a combat unit…

Of course, everything turned not like Ichika hoped as to be used as intended **Realizer** requires direct contact with I.S. core. But in his current situation…

"Seraphim **Kamael** , **Elohim Gebor** [Lord of Battles], Left hand of God, Ruler of 5th sephira, **Geburah** [Strenght]… With his burning blade **Enkindler** , he mercilessly banished Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden for violating the God's law…" For some reason Ichika remembered that Kabbalistic legend.

Again, in this world all is happening according to will, and Ichika's will now wasn't just strong, it was simply overwhelming. Three pairs of angelic wings, cowered with the same golden light, appeared behind Ichika's back as he soared into the air. "I am less forgiving… For I.S., the most holy law is to 'never turn against its owner'… and for violating this law you two will just die!"

* * *

Floating about 700 feet above sea surface, the **Silver Gospel** curled itself up like a baby. The wings that extended out from its head covered the curled up body.

"Emergency!" The **Gospel** suddenly looked up. At the next moment, a supersonic bullet hit it on the head, causing a huge explosion.

"First bullet is a hit. Keep shooting!" Floating three and half miles away, the **Schwarzer Regen** , with Laura piloting it, fired the first shot before the **Gospel** could counterattack.

The **Schwarzer Regen** 's exterior was a lot different from usual, as two .80 caliber railguns **Purizushi** were each installed on both shoulders. Also, to allow for long-range sniping with cannon fire, 4 physical shields were covering its left, right, front and back sides as protection. This is the **Panzer Kanonen** [Tank Cannons] package with the cannons installed on the **Schwarzer Regen**.

"Enemy's closing in..." Laura heard her I.S. warning, "4375 yards... 3275 yards…" Her eyes were focused on the enemy, _'Damn, faster than I expected…'_ The next moment, the distance between both of them was about 1100 yards, and the **Gospel** continued to close in. Even though Laura continued to attack, the Gospel used both wings to shoot out energy bullets to take out the cannon bullets and close in on Laura.

"Shit!" To suppress recoil, the **Tank Cannons** packet didn't allow much mobility. In contrast, having its mobility customized, the **Gospel** suddenly accelerated from almost 1000 feet away and reached out for Laura's right hand. No way she could dodge that… However, Laura curled her lips and smiled, "Cecilia!"

The Gospel had to cancel its move and instead it reached out its arm to block the machine that descended from above. A blue I.S. – **Blue Tears** – launched a strong attack in stealth mode.

Unlike how it was normally, the six BITs were all arranged like a skirt on its waist, and the cannons were covered to act as thrusters. Also, the high energy laser rifle **Stardust Shooter** , the more powerful version of **Stardust Mark III** , was more than 80 inches long, more than enough to make up for the lack of firepower of the BITs.

Cecilia's head had the Hyper Sensor **Brilliant Clearance** installed on it to respond to speeds over 300 knots to go along with her high powered mobility package **Strike Gunner**. With the information it processed, she suddenly turned at a high speed and aimed at the **Gospel** ready to attack.

"Enemy B confirmed. Proceeding with elimination," Mechanical voice said.

"Too slow!" After the **Silver Gospel** dodged Cecilia's attack, another machine attacked from behind. It was Charlotte, who climbed onto Cecilia's back when she launched the sneak attack in stealth mode. The two shotguns were shot from behind at close range, causing the **Gospel** to stumble left and right.

But that was for a moment. It immediately launched a counterattack at the 3rd machine with the **Silver Bell**. "Oh sorry, but this **Garden Curtain** won't to be taken down so easily!" The **Revive** 's defensive package used the physical shields and energy shields to block the **Gospel** 's rain of feather-bullets. Its figure seemed to resemble a normal **Revive** , as both physical and energy shields blocked the front like a curtain. While defending, Charlotte used her specialty **Rapid Switch** to summon an offensive **Gatling** cannon, using that time to counter.

With Cecilia moving at high velocity and attacking, and Laura shooting while pulling her distance, the **Silver Gospel** began to look damaged as it was attacked from three directions.

"...Changing priority. Now setting 'escaping air space' as priority," Mechanical voice could be heard again. Scattering energy bullets all over the place, the **Gospel** immediately turned on all its thrusters as it was intending to break through.

"Don't you dare get away!" The sea ruptured, and then exploded. The crimson red machine **Crimson Camellia** flew up with the **Shenlong** on its back.

"Take it down before it escapes!" **Crimson Camellia** attacked the **Gospel** , and Rin got off the back to get into battle mode with the **Burning Leafage** package on to allow an increase in functionality. The 2 pairs of **Impact Cannons** on her shoulders, and the 4 cannons opened fire at the same time.

While **Crimson Camellia** got away from the area after a little scuffle, the **Impact Cannon** bullets shot out from behind her. However, these weren't the invisible **Shock Bullets** made simply of compressed air, but rather bullets covered in scarlet red flames. The numbers matched up to the rain of bullet from the **Gospel** , and the empowered **Impact Cannons** should really be called **Thermal Diffusion Impact Cannons**.

"Did we get it?" Charlotte asked.

"Not yet!" Laura shouted back.

Though the **Silver Gospel** got hit directly by the **Diffusion Impact Cannons** , it continued to move. "The biggest counter of the **Silver Bell** – begins," Mechanical voice said as **Silver Gospel** 's arms extended to both the left and right sides, and even the wings expanded outwards, and at that moment, a sharp glow of light exploded, and a rain of energy bullets began shooting.

"Dammit!" Rin exclaimed.

"Houki, behind me!" Charlotte shouted. After this morning's failure, Houki's **Crimson Camellia** was still in a limited phase. To prevent it from overexerting the **Fold-Out Armor** and running out of energy, right now, the settings were set so that it wouldn't activate the **Fold-Out Armor** involuntarily even when on defense.

Of course, the reason why this readjustment was made was because she left the defense to Charlotte. This was to maximize the advantage in a group battle, by splitting the roles up.

"Even so... It's a little tough here," French pilot said, breathing a bit heavily. Even though she had a defensive packet on, it was dangerous to continue taking the **Gospel** 's continuous attacks. One of the physical shields was completely destroyed during this time. "Laura! Cecilia! Please!" She called for support.

"Do you need to say anymore?"

"Leave it to us!"

German and English pilots moved forward to back up Charlotte who was backing away, and shot from both left and right sides. Cecilia used the hi-mobility mode to shoot, while Laura exchanged fire with her cannons.

"It'll be our turn once the enemy stops!" Next, Rin attacked from below. Using the **Souten Gagetsu** to slash, she immediately let out the close ranged **Diffusion Impact Cannons** to fire – the target's multi-thrusters on the Silver Bell that was connected to the head. "Die!" Even though the rain of energy bullets continued to pelt on her, Rin continued to slash.

The **Gospel** let loose a spread similar to the **Impact Cannon** , and both sides got severely damaged. But, with precise slash, Rin finally managed to slice off one of the **Gospel** 's wings. "Haa, haa...! How about that!?" Though breathing heavily, Rin still seemed victoriously.

Though left with only one wing, the **Silver Gospel** immediately readjusted itself and gave Rin's left hand a roundhouse kick. This kick, with the thrusters on the foot turned on, smashed Rin's shoulder armor and caused her to fall towards the sea.

"Rin! Damn it!" Houki shouted, _'This time… I will not hesitate!'_ Wielding one sword in each hand, she quickly hacked at the **Gospel**. As the emergency acceleration caused it to lose balance, the **Gospel** got a cut on its right shoulder. _'Yes! I got it!'_ Just when Houki thought this, something unbelievable happened. The **Silver Gospel** used its hands to grab both left and right swords.

"What?" The energy released from the swords could break through the armor, but the **Gospel** didn't seem to mind as it opened its arms wide. With the swords pulled apart, Houki was forced to open her arms wide, revealing a completely defenseless position. At this moment, the enemy I.S. opened the cannons on its remaining wing as it got ready to attack.

"Houki-san! Leave those weapons and escape!" Cecilia shouted as she saw what's happening.

But Houki didn't leave her weapons behind. _'...If I back away here, why did I...'_ The loaded energy bullets fired out at the same time _'…why did I want to get power!?'_ A second before she got hit by the energy bullets, **Crimson Camellia** spun around, and the **Fold-Out Armor** on the toes seemed like it responded to Houki's will as it created an energy blade. "AHHHHH!" Houki swung her foot and used the energy blade to slice. Finally, the **Silver Gospel** lost its remaining wing as it fell towards the sea, and the **Gospel** itself followed. "Ha, haa, haa...!" Breathing heavily, Houki seemed relieved.

"Are you alright?" On hearing Laura's worried voice, which was very rare occasion, Houki's erratic breathing started to calm down.

"I'm... alright. The **Gospel** , it's…" Just when she wanted to say 'It's lost', a ball of powerful light emerged from the sea surface.

As if time stopped, a ball-shaped space appeared in the midst of the sea surface. The Silver Gospel with the blue electricity covering it was hugging itself, squatting right in the middle.

"This...!? What's going on...?" Charlotte asked with scared voice.

"Damn it! This is… **Second Shift**!" Laura exclaimed in shock.

* * *

 **White Knight** sent a hail of ion bolts towards Ichika. Now, with Inertia dampeners active, it could shoot much more precise and much faster. But…

"Useless…" Ichika said calmly as he outstretched his right arm, creating wall of holy flame in front of himself, and wall consumed all enemy attacks. "No heretics have a chance against Seraphim…" Honestly, what Ichika was saying sounded like a voice of a madman… but right now, in this world, he was anyone but madman.

"Your future is with me… Your souls will be mine to mold…" Tips of all Ichika's angelic wings began to glow, and shoot some sort of energy rays, which gathered at some point in front of Ichika, forming a much larger beam. It looked like a beam of 'dense' sunlight, but actually it was just powerful plasma beam. Predicting enemy's movements with ease, Ichika landed a direct hit, smashing enemy into burning sand.

Seemingly, as core 001 knew Ichika's personality from the very beginning, it was despising him from the very beginning. Being forced to execute his commands and perform frame's optimization for him, core itself was rejecting its new being. As well as rejecting to accept all modifications that Ichika made. Because of that, here, it its inner world, that I.S. was still proud and noble **White Knight**.

But time changes. In technical terms – **White Knight** was just an obsolete 1st generation frame, with outdated weapon and low overall specs. On the other hand, using partial control over this world granted by his **Realizer** , his will and imagination, Ichika turned himself into superior being. Honestly, his image seemed a bit too convincing, too solid… as if it wasn't just imagination… as if it was something more than just power of his will…

"It's over," Ichika said as he landed near damaged I.S. **White Knight** 's armor seemed wrecked and its **Ion Blaster** was destroyed by Ichika's last attack. But enemy wasn't ready to give up. **White Knight** stood up, raising her sword – only remaining weapon.

Ichika looked at opponent leniently. "Very well…" He said. "I will not spare you… but I'm not completely without mercy… I'll let you end your existence as a warrior…" As he said that, he also raised his sword, that was burning with golden flame.

 **White Knight** took the stance, definitely preparing to execute kesa-giri attack. Ichika moved his sword to the right, preparing for **Flash Wing** attack – his own hybrid technique that he invented practicing kenjutsu in conjunction with European sword – raising blow from left to right. Opponents dashed towards one another and their swords clashed, then they continued forth, and now they stood on places from where opponent started his attack.

In a few moments, white knight began to glow. In a flash, glow dissipated, once again revealing 'incomplete' version of **White Knight** , without shoulder pads and 'skirt'. She lost grip on her sword and it fell down on burning sand, revealing that it actually was sliced in half. 'Old blade' couldn't withstood Ichika's attack. The girl with white hair was lying right next to it, she seemed severely beaten and her dress was ripped apart.

"I am sorry… **Setsura** …" **White Knight** said as she also fell on burning sand. Flame slowly began to consume them both.

"No…" Girl, whose name apparently was Setsura, smiled, despite half of her body already was consumed with golden flame. "In the end, our wish was fulfilled… We are free now…"

"I see… yes, you're right…" **White Knight** smiled as she reached for girl's hand and clenched her small palm. Moment later they both were completely consumed by flame.

"How touching…" Ichika said with explicit sarcasm. His eyes still glowing with scarlet light, he still was speaking with high iron voice. He again swung his sword, sanding huge fireball towards pillar of flame, which just consumed **Setsura** and **White Knight**. Fireball exploded, vanquishing all the flames, revealing only two small piles of ash.

"Core number 001…" Ichika said as he approached to **Setsura** and **White Knight** 's remains. "Interesting, why you split in two? One soul but two bodies… two personalities… I guess she was just too young back then, still filled with contradictive feelings… But don't you worry, I will make you whole again!" Ichika plunged his sword between two piles of ash, and it immediately created whirlwind of flame around itself, sucking ashes in, also drawing lava from burning sea and even darkness, that was coming from the black sun. All that turned into huge black-red sphere… and then, abruptly, everything disappeared, revealing… someone. "Hah," Ichika even laughed, looking at new person's appearance, "And why you're looking like this? As if it's _Inversion_ … Well, doesn't matter."

As old I.S. personalities were destroyed, Ichika's I.S. were about to lose all accumulated data as new personality is going to be created. But now Ichika couldn't allow his I.S. to start all over again from default mode. To avoid that and preserve data, he had to take measures while old I.S. inner world still exists. Using power of his **Realizer** , and his knowledges about I.S. Ichika executed a forced creation of I.S. personality. But by doing so, he had to share his thoughts with I.S. core, as such, new personality was based on images, taken right from Ichika's mind… "Well, it's even better this way…" He smiled again. "I have to give you a name, have I?" Ichika was thinking aloud, "Oh, right, that will do. Arise, **Naamah** , the _Whisperer_ , ruler of _tenth qliphah_ **Nehemoth** …"

And she stood up. A woman with pitch-black hair, pair of curled horns on her head, and two huge, demonic black wings. A black metallic crown with large, glowing ruby was floating above her head. She wore extremely revealing, black armor made of bones. Black metallic chains were wrapped around her arms. "There's no more time to waste," Ichika said, "While I'm still here I'll grant you all the data you need so we finally will be able to fight with full power. Kneel," Ichika ordered, raising his right arm. New I.S. 'avatar' obeyed without saying a word…

* * *

"Are communications still down?" Maya Yamada asked worriedly, looking at Chifuyu and other instructors who remained in operation HQ.

"Don't bother. I bet they simply disabled their communication channels," Chifuyu replied, looking at main screen. Everyone already knew that all five personal I.S. pilots went to fight the **Silver Gospel**.

Suddenly, door to the ops room was opened, and with the leg kick, no less. "Stay out! We're in the middle of opera…" Chifuyu tried to say but then she felt aura of the one who came, and it caused her to immediately turn around.

Ichika made several steps into ops room. "I'm sorry that my recovery took so long…" He said with high iron voice as he seemingly looked at all monitors at once with his glowing, blood-red eyes. "I see… Those five Hetare girls are trying to get themselves killed…" As he said that, he turned around and headed towards ops room exit, not saying anything more.

 _'What's… with that aura…'_ Maya was thinking, staring at Ichika. _'I… cannot even move…'_ Her whole body was trembling, and she wasn't the only one like that in this room all other teachers also were like paralyzed. Actually, only Chifuyu seemed more or less normal. As he already stepped over the doorstep, he said, "I'm sorry, Onee-san, I will apologize to you later…"

And then… something unexpected happened. Chifuyu followed her brother, leaving the room, and closing door behind herself. "Ichika!" She called for him, "Hold on! I prohibit you to participate in that battle." Chifuyu knew that she has no authority over him now, until this mission is over, he's not an academy student but JSDF officer. But she's still his elder sister…

"I'm sorry, Onee-san, bit this won't work, either…" Ichika replied calmly. "Even your voce cannot return me to my normal self now. If those five will be killed, I will look like an idiot… we both will… but there's more…" He sighed. "Do you remember Admiral Markus Fairs… US Chief of Naval Operations, the guy who invited me to participate in joint training last month?"

"Yes," Chifuyu replied, and there was strange expression on her face, it could be described as… humility?

"His daughter, Natasha – she was the **Silver Gospel** 's test pilot, and she's inside that accursed I.S. right now. I called Admiral Fairs, he called US president, who called our Prime Minister, who called our Minister of defense, who allowed me to participate in this operation. All that in exchange for my promise to return Natasha Fairs to her father alive. In other words, not only my career, but also my honor and my pride are at stake now. I have to go…"

"But your I.S., **Messiah** , wasn't it severely damaged…" Chifuyu asked.

" **Messiah** does no longer exists…" Ichika replied, and only now Chifuyu noticed that white glove on Ichika's left arm was gone, now black metallic chain was wrapped around it. One of its ends was attached to black leather belt on Ichika's left shoulder, another end was attached to black leather wristband. "I'll explain everything later, I promise…" He said as he looked at elder sister one more time. His eyes were still of the same, blood-red color, burning with scarlet flame. "I will return with victory, I swear. Now, nothing can stop me…"

* * *

"Damn it! This is… **Second Shift**!" Laura exclaimed in shock.

As Laura shouted this, the **Silver Gospel** turned to her as if responding to the voice. As it has no face but just an inorganic mask, it was hard to determine the machine's 'expression'. But from there, they could still feel the antagonistic intent, ringing a warning alarm in all the I.S. pilots.

However – it was too late.

"RRAAAAAAGH...!" The Gospel let out what sounded like a wild beast's roar and charged at Laura. Since it was mechanical voice, it was even more frightening.

"What!?" As it was too fast, Laura got her foot grabbed before she could even do anything. Then, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, the **Gospel** 's head-wings that were sliced off started to slowly regrow, but now they were made of pure energy.

"Let go of Laura!" Charlotte quickly used Rapid Switch to attack using the close-ranged knife. But the knife got blocked by the enemy, barehanded.

"Move away! Escape! This is…" Before she could finish, Laura got surrounded by those beautiful energy wings. At that moment, the rain of energy bullets at 0 distance pierced into Laura, sending her falling to the sea.

"Laura! Damn it!" Charlotte gave up on the knife attack and summoned the shotgun, aiming it at the **Gospel** 's face and squeezing the trigger.

*BAM!* But the sound didn't come from the shotgun. The **Gospel** 's armor looked like an eggshell as cracks formed on the chest, waist and back, growing out little energy wings. The energy bullets fired from there knocked the Charlotte away together with her shotgun with exceptionally powerful blow. She fell into the sea and sunk, just like Laura.

"Wha… What's that?! This ability… Even if it's for military use, it's too abnormal!" As Cecilia again tried to attack using the high mobility, the **Silver Gospel** suddenly arrived in front of her. **Ignition Boost** that was an acceleration that used both arms and legs to ignite an acceleration.

"What!?" English pilot screamed. Once enemy has closed in, the huge rifle wouldn't work. Even though she tried to pull the distance and raise the gun barrel, the rifle got kicked from Cecilia's arms and disappeared. _'Damn… Ichika warned me about that a hundred times, but… I'm still useless in close combat!'_ Cecilia panicked. Though, her only close range weapon – combat knife **Interceptor** – wasn't even included into her currently installed package. The next moment, the Gospel raised all its energy wings, creating a huge ball made of those feather-bullets, and then shot it at Cecilia in form of whirlwind-like beam point-blank. Before Cecilia could even completely comprehend that here's nothing she can do, she began to fall to the sea.

As Rin was knocked out earlier, before **Gospel** undergone its **Second Shift,** and her I.S. was in the sea for some time, Houki remained all alone. But she wasn't scared – she was infuriated. "You dare… You dare to do this to my teammates?!" Using emergency acceleration, Houki closed in and continued to slash away, using parts of the **Fold-Out Armor** to do special attacks, dodge the enemy's attack, and using the boosters to raise her unstable position and launch counterattacks.

"UOOOOHHH!" This was a close-ranged fight with both sides dodging each other, and having increased her output slightly, the **Crimson Camellia** finally managed to corner the **Silver Gospel**. _'Alright! If this keeps up…'_ Houki stabbed **Sky Breaker** out. However…

"Warning, energy level at zero…" She heard her machine warning.

"What?! I ran out of energy?! At a time like this?!" Houki screamed desperately. Using this opening, the **Silver Gospel** 's right hand grabbed onto Houki's collar. **Gospel** 's wings again grew bigger and slowly enveloped Houki. _'Ichika… I'm so sorry…'_

* * *

"What?! A NEW I.S.?!" Maya Yamada screamed as she was looking at Ichika's I.S. identifier, " **Majin!?** " [The Demon's Queen, literary from kanji it could be translated as 'Demon-God', but there's no analogy in western folklore, so I decided to stick with the name 'Demon Queen'] "And its already in _Second Shift_?! ' **Majin Naamah** '!?" Maya couldn't settle down. "How's that even possible?!"

"Yamada-sensei, why are you screaming?" Chifuyu asked with her eyes closed, but her voice was as sharp and deep as ever. "I'm standing right beside you…"

"I… I'm sorry…" Fear of Chifuyu slightly cooled down Maya's passion.

Chifuyu sighed. Honestly, she knew as little as everyone else here about what happened to Ichika, and that was quite irritating. But one thing she knew for certain – Ichika's eyes. When he left, they were of the same, blood red color… _' **Eyes of Kamael** '… True form of his **emperor's eyes** … Comparing **Eyes of Kamael** to his normal **emperor's eyes** it is just like comparing military-grade binocular to simple magnifying glass… Those eyes can see even around solid objects, and much further into the future… But when he has eyes like this – he's completely unpredictable…'_

* * *

"Agh, ugh...!" Houki's was suffocating as her throat got grabbed by the **Silver Gospel** , letting out painful moans as merciless machine was crushing her throat. The **Gospel** 's hand continued to grab onto Houki's neck, and the **Silver Bell** that evolved into full-energy mode covered **Crimson Camellia** completely.

 _'Is this the end... Damn, this is embarrassing...'_ The brightness of the wings of light increased. As the **Gospel** let out a countdown before firing, Houki only thought of something. _'I want to see him. I want to see Ichika. I want to see him immediately. I want to see him now. Ahh, ahh, I really want to see him…'_

"I…chi…ka..." Unknowingly, she called out Ichika's name. Facing the wings that were becoming even brighter, Houki got mentally prepared and closed her eyes.

*CLANK!* Loud sound of metallic rasp. At the same time, the hand of the **Gospel** that was holding onto Houki suddenly let go. As the puzzled Houki opened her eyes due to this sudden situation, she saw the **Silver Gospel** flying away from her, rolling head over heels in midair, just as if it was simply thrown away.

 _'Wha… What happened…'_ Still in a state of disbelief, Houki heard a voice that broke her thoughts.

"I hope you didn't wait for me too long, Kawaii Tenshi," Ichika's voice said as unknown, glowing white/dark violet machine were floating slightly above Houki. ['Kawaii Tenshi' literally means 'cute little angel', when applied to military I.S. that sounds quite offensive, at least in Ichika's opinion].

Houki couldn't understand – what exactly she's seeing now. An I.S. Its torso is looking like a ribcage, with white metallic 'ribs' and energy field between them, though there's a thin black metallic layer beneath energy field to protect pilot's body from direct contact with that energy. I.S. legs also weren't solid, as metal was mixed with energy field, but legs overall design seemed quite familiar, just like… **Kurazakura** 's legs, just with a bit more massive knees and boots were with flat sole. Also, two pair of small (about 1.5 feet long), dragonfly-like wings were attached to each knee's backside. Massive gloves, also outlined with dark violet energy fields, were looking more like claws than hands, as finger were more like talons. Helmet seemed just like a replica of **Kurazakura** 's helmet, but instead of long pointed 'ears' it has three pairs of same dragonfly-like wings, 'growing' from 'temple area'. Finally, not three but five pairs dragonfly-like wings, all of equal length (about 8.5 feet), were attached to frame's back and shoulders.

All those wings if that I.S. – those on legs, on helmet, and big ones behind – all have the same design – quite thin white metal part in the middle, and dark violet energy field from above and below. No doubts – all those energy fields on that frame – they all are **Fold-Out Armor**. But unlike **Fold-Out Armor** used by **Messiah** , which looked like white, half-transparent glass, this one was dark violet, non-transparent, and it was like burning with same-colored, dark violet flame.

 _' **Demon Queen Naamah**?!'_ With saucer-wide eyes Houki read the identifier of I.S. that was floating above her, _'Ichika?!'_

"Come on, let us dance," Ignoring Houki, Ichika pointed at **Silver Gospel** with his sniper rifle.

* * *

And that's it for now. See you soon people!


	12. Annihilation

**GeassDragon, Imperial-samaB, rencama1993, DarkBladerZX, kuro yaksha, xxOblivionxxx, Eurigos:** Many thanks for your support people!

 **R.J.P:** You just wait, it gets much more sophisticated. By the way, I haven't watched 'Gundam' so I can't understand the references xD

 **Anon:** Now man, that's really perverted… xD

 **meirmamuka:** Sort of, yes. But it's much more, just see…

* * *

 **Chapter XII – Annihilation**

…

 _' **Demon Queen Naamah**?!'_ With saucer-wide eyes Houki read the identifier of I.S. that was floating above her, "Ichika?!"

"Come on, let us dance," Ignoring Houki, Ichika pointed at **Silver Gospel** with his sniper rifle. By the way, unlike his I.S., appearance of Ichika's weapon didn't change at all.

"Ichika, is that you?! Ichika?! What's with your I.S.?! Wait… Your body, your wounds...!" Houki's thoughts were in complete disarray.

"Hetare Gogō [Loser №5], stop that senseless babbling, you're warrior or what?" Ichika cut her off, "Here's no Ichika, I'm lt.-commander Orimura, and I'm assuming command of this operation. Give me full status report on all units that are participating in this battle." For a moment, Ichika's face mask opened and he looked at Houki, revealing his blood-red burning eyes.

"Ugh…" Houki was taken aback, she was completely confused, "Wait, the others…" Maybe she actually was waiting some words of support or comfort? Well, if so, that was quite foolish of her…

"Shinonono!" Ichika called for her again, "Do I really need to repeat myself? Status report, now!"

"Uh… Yes, sir!" Houki still was confused, but she was heavily pressured with situation, besides… right now, she was actually scared of Ichika. She quickly reported the situation.

"Perfect…" Ichika snorted with sarcasm. "You were five against one, and now four are disabled and one left without energy… What a bunch of Hetares… Well, not that this was unexpected…" He noted to himself.

"Ichika, look!" Houki exclaimed as she noticed that **Silver Gospel** reappraised the situation and prepared to continue battle. At the next moment, the **Gospel** raised all its wings made of energy, creating a huge ball-shaped sphere made of those feather-bullets, and then shot it at Ichika in form of whirlwind-like beam.

"Nice try…" Ichika said as he quickly raised his left arm, holding weapon in his right. Following his command, three lower pairs of wings on Ichika's back detached themselves from his I.S., quickly flew forward and made a hexagon in front of him (edge length is equal to one wing length – 8.5 feet). Then, inner sides of wings' **Fold-Out Armor** closed around together, making solid hexagonal shield, made of burning, dark violet energy.

Energy beam, shot by **Silver Gospel,** clashed into shield, but shield withstood the attack, as all energy 'feathers', from which that beam was made of, were literally burned by dark violet flame. At the same time, just when Ichika outstretched his left arm, Houki noticed that Ichika's I.S. arms actually asymmetric as left one had something like long, flattened out tube attached to underside of its elbow.

"Target Verified. Torpedo's away." Soft and seductive woman's voice reported as that tube under Ichika's arm launched ball-shaped sphere that was shining like a star, made of that dark violet light. Dark violet 'star' flew towards **Silver Gospel** , at speed about 1600 knots. In the meantime, all **Demon Queen's** wings returned to their places behind her back. "Detonator's sensitivity radius has been set to 30 feet," **Demon Queen** informed.

"Good, let him try to escape that," Ichika said, watching dark star approaching the **Silver Gospel**. The rogue I.S. swung its wings around, sanding a storm of feather-bullets towards incoming torpedo, several feathers hit the target, but…

"What?!" Houki exclaimed as she couldn't believe in what she just saw, "That thing… This is protected with **Paradise of Darkness**?!" That was truth – Ichika's star-like projectile was surrounded with field made of overheated heavy plasma, that could neglect any energy or light plasma-based attacks.

*BAAAM!* As **Gospel** wasn't expecting it won't be able to destroy incoming torpedo, it had no time to adapt to changed situation and when less than 30 feet remained between torpedo and its target, the 'dark star' exploded, producing immensely powerful blast, that lit up the skies to the very horizon (explosive yield was about four times more powerful than shot from Ichika's sniper rifle in assault mode, with **Paradise of Darkness** activated). In term of raw damaging power, it could inflict about 1500 shield points damage with direct hit, but only assuming that all explosive yield will be spent on direct attack. But that weapon wasn't intended for that.

Unlike Ichika's plasma weapon, this torpedo was designed not to incinerate single enemy with high-temperature blast, but for creating very powerful, semi-directional, half-sphere shaped shock wave. The target, that would be hit by that shock wave, will feel as if it was hit with huge hammer. It's multi-target weapon, its main purpose is to disrupt enemy formation.

"Nice!" Ichika exclaimed in excitement. Seriously, only thing like that could made Ichika so excited as **Silver Gospel** was smashed into small rocky island in the middle of the gulf. It actually didn't get much damage but definitely got a good shake-up. "Now, **Naamah** , let's finish this thing off!" Ichika commanded as tube beneath his left arm changed its shape, turning into glowing spear-like weapon. This **Second Shift** equipment seems to be able to change according to the situation and form different types of weapon as it seems to respond to Ichika's desires.

Holding his heavy plasma machinegun, **Equalizer** , with his right hand and targeting at **Gospel** with weapon, mounted beneath his left hand, Ichika opened fire from both weapons, shooting hail of glowing blue plasma sphere-shaped charges and dark violet bolts.

Ichika's secondary weapon, the one attached to his left arm, was his new, **Second Shift** equipment, it was called " **Hand of Eisheth** ". [A/N: **Eisheth** , just like **Naamah** , is one of four 'Brides of Samael', and princess of Qliphah **Thagirion** ] It wasn't a laser or other sort of energy weapon. It's actually a particle cannon that uses phase-frequency modulated bolts of particles, modulation frequency is 785 THz, mass of each particle is about 1116 MeV [Megaelectronvolts].

"Enemy information renewed. Changing attacking level A," Mechanical voice said. The **Silver Gospel** no doubts had no intentions to give up, as it expanded its energy wings wide, also showing the wings that appeared from its body, and met Ichika's assault with storm of white energy bullet.

* * *

Houki was watching at that unimaginable light show as entranced.

"Change in situation. Using the most powerful attack!" As the mechanical voice declared this, the **Gospel** spread its wings widely, and then quickly curled itself into a ball, forming a cage-cocoon state.

 _'Damn it, I have a bad feeling about that…'_ Houki thought, the worst case scenario did happen, as she was afraid of.

The Gospel's wings expanded out as it spun, and it began to 'dance,' trying to evade Ichika's attacks in the clouds above, at the same time the energy feather-bullets were scattering all over the place like a storm. In other words, these attacks would hit Rin and the rest who haven't recovered yet. Besides, if Ichika will continue to chase and attack the enemy like that (and of course he will), he also may hit other girls.

"Ichika! Careful!" Houki shouted, "Others still down there, you have to help them!"

Ichika didn't replied. Either he just ignored Houki's warning, but most likely he simply had no time to answer, as Houki heard another, very agitated voice, calling for her.

"What are you saying?! How long do you intending to float there and stare at that from aside?! No matter how bad we are, we're still representative candidates! Stop crying and help Ichika finish that thing off!" That was Rin. No doubts, 'defeated' pilots also had a lot of questions, but they were focused on recovery, so they were holding all their questions back.

"Alright…" Houki smiled a little, "I... I got it." She made a deep breath, _'Right, I'm not a sole warrior anymore, I'm I.S. academy student. As such, I have to believe in my friends. This is the only thing I can do for those who helped me to come this far… So no matter what, I will believe in them… and Ichika!'_

She looked up, to the clouds. _'Alright, Ichika's here!'_ Actually, that fact alone made Houki really happy. She didn't care that he's acting even crazier than usual, she didn't care how he recovered so fast, after wounds he got this morning – right now – none of those matters. *BAM!* *SMASH!* *CLASH!* Explosions from fierce battle right above her were tearing clouds and even skies themselves apart.

Houki's heart started to race, burning as it continued to beat wildly. Seeing Ichika's silhouette while battling, she felt an extremely strong wish inside herself. _'He's five times more insane than usual… But still… I want to fight alongside him. I want to help him anyway I can!'_

Her heart started to pray strongly and earnestly. As if responding to her wish, **Crimson Camellia** 's began to shine with bright red-gold light as **Fold-Out Armor** began to strew the golden dust all around.

"This is...?" From the **Hyper Sensors** , Houki could tell that her machine's recovering energy extremely fast.

" **Kenran Butou** [Gorgeous Dance] activated. **Fold-Out Armor** and **Energy Bypass**... complete," **Crimson Camellia** reported. The words written on it are **One-Off Ability**.

 _'Can I still fight?'_ Houki thought as she looked at her machine's data – shields, **Fold-Out Armor** and weapon energy reserves – all seemed fully charged now. _'If that's the case… Then, let's go, **Crimson Camellia**!' _ As if breaking through the sunset horizon, the crimson red machine that's glowing with red and gold dashed forward.

* * *

*CLASH!* Two of **Silver Gospel's** wings were torn off by direct hit from **Equalizer** , as machine used them to cover itself, protecting the frame. However, **Gospel** made a spinning movement, avoiding two dark violet bolts. During this time, the **Gospel** regrew its lost wings and continued to launch a barrage feather-bullets at Ichika.

"Warning: energy reserves at 15% and decreasing," Ichika's I.S. warned him.

 _'Damn, current power source cannot continuously supply this machine with enough power for full-scaled assault,'_ Ichika thought. For **Messiah** , with its only weapon **Ragnarök** and limited use of **Fold-Out Armor** , current power source was just fine (except for use of **One-Off Ability** ). But, seemingly, the **Demon Queen** in her **Second Shift** , **Naamah** , with her secondary weapon **Hand of Eisheth** and more vast use of **Fold-Out Armor** , she definitely needs much more energy to operate at full capacity. Such an 'appetite' was far beyond existing reactor's power output. _'As soon as I return – new reactor should be my top priority…'_

But the biggest problem was that it wasn't today's first battle for Ichika and his I.S. The I.S. core and frame itself may have changed, but that didn't refill power reserves to their maximum… _'If this keeps up… I'll have to power down secondary weapon and lower **Fold-Out Armor** output…'_ Ichika thought, that was quite irritating. No, even with **Ragnarök** alone he was certain in his victory, but it may take more time…

"Ichika!" Suddenly, he heard Houki's call.

"Report!" Ichika replied quickly. He also noticed that strange glow of **Crimson Camellia**. Ichika knew what that glow means – his 'former' I.S. **Messiah** also was glowing like this when activating its **One-Off Ability**.

"I'm alright!" She replied, "Come here, take my hand!" Houki flew closer and right arm of her **Crimson Camellia** touched **Demon Queen** 's shoulder.

An electrical-like surge and a burning sensation immediately passed through Ichika's body, and his vision wavered for a moment. Then he heard his machine's report. "Shields: fully charged. Energy banks: at 100% capacity."

"So, this is the **One-Off Ability** of your I.S?" Ichika asked, "Not bad at all." Since **Crimson Camellia** was 4th generation I.S., its **One-Off Ability** was given to Houki's I.S. by Tabane deliberately. Ichika easily figured out Houki's elder sister's intention – I.S. that can restore other I.S. units' energy would be a perfect partner for an assault I.S. that uses huge amounts of energy and even its own shield to increase attack capability. _'Tabane… that's a way to make your sister look preferable, I give you that…'_ Ironic thought visited Ichika's head.

"Here's no time to think about that now!" Houki exclaimed, though she sounded rather happy that she managed to be useful for Ichika, "I'm also at full power, what's the plan, commander?!"

"We already spent too much time on that thing. I'll finish it with one blow, but you need to distract it for a moment. Sending you the attack plan," As Ichika said that, Houki received an image of **Silver Gospel** with red glowing marks – seemingly Ichika wanted Houki to hit exactly those points. "Can you do that?" He wondered.

"Of course, leave it to me!" Houki exclaimed as she was motivated as never before.

"Then we're starting in five… four…" While Ichika was giving countdown, continuing to countershoot **Gospel** 's feather-bullets, Houki extended her **Fold-Out Armor** to maximum "…three… two… one… go!"

With that, Houki rushed right at the enemy, ignoring storm of feather-bullets that enemy was shooting at her. Ichika was covering her, his weapon, **Ragnarök** , took shape of twin assault rifles – **Anguish** and **Despair** , and he now was shooting from three barrels at once – from both rifles and particle cannon mounted on his left arm.

"Take that!" Houki swung her swords. The **Gospel** spun once and dodged her first attacks. But that was expected as Houki deployed the **Fold-Out Armor** on her feet, causing the **Gospel** to take a roundhouse kick with emergency acceleration. Not expecting this initial hit, the **Gospel** lost its upper wings, also losing its balance. And when enemy lost its focus, Houki once again swung her swords, slashing off the remaining wings of light with an uppercut attacks.

And just when it seemed that everything is over, the **Gospel** grew out all its wings once again and prepared to fire at Houki. But that was exactly what Ichika wanted. All five pairs of wings detached from **Demon Queen** 's back, and, while **Gospel** was distracted, those ten wings made a pentahedral pyramid around enemy I.S. Before **Gospel** understood what's going on it was already too late. Wings' **Fold-Out Armor** closed around, making pyramid's walls solid. "You're done," Ichika said as he clenched his left palm.

Bright flash inside pyramid was seen even through almost non-transparent walls made of **Fold-Out Armor**. Then pyramid's walls opened, revealing heavily 'dazed' I.S., and at that moment, Ichika executed **Ignition Boost** , as **Hand of Eisheth** once again changed its shape, turning into dual-headed emitter, which now was attached to upper side of Ichika's left elbow. Then it spawned two arcuated dark violet blades, which were looking like two long talons (each was six feet long).

All ten wings returned to **Demon Queen** back, as entire Ichika's I.S. now was glowing with dark violet light, indicating that **Paradise of Darkness** is at maximum output. With **Ignition Boost** , Ichika appeared behind the enemy and slashed **Silver Gospel** 's back with those talon-like blades. Bright flash, and frame opened, revealing blonde-haired female pilot in I.S. suit. Ichika pulled her out from disabled I.S. frame, before he smashed his foot into now pilotless I.S. unit, sending it down crashing into one of small rocky islands.

"Finally… It's done…" Houki sighed with relief.

"Really, that was just an insanity."

"Finally…"

Rin and Cecilia finally managed to recover from their injuries. Also, Charlotte and Laura seemed to be alright, even though they aren't completely unscathed.

"It's over."

"Yeah... it's finally over."

"Over?" Ichika suddenly asked as those high iron notes were still present in his voice. "It's not over yet… Yes, I destroyed its core, it's just a junk now," He said as **Hand of Eisheth** again took shape of flattened tube, attached to left elbow underside. "But I'm not satisfied yet. For what that thing made me went through I'll turn it into atomic vapor!"

"No, Ichika-san, wait!" Cecilia tried to protest but she was simply ignored as Ichika's I.S. continued aiming.

"Torpedo's armed. Detonator's sensitivity radius set to zero," **Naamah** informed, "Target acquired. Torpedo's away." Again, ball-shaped sphere that was shining like a star, made of that dark violet light was launched and flew towards remains of **Silver Gospel**. All girls were watching at it as entranced, though with distance to target less than 1.5 miles that show lasted only two seconds.

"BAAAM!" Another flash lit up the skies, as powerful blast sundered half of that rocky island. Defenseless frame of the **Gospel** was evaporated, just as Ichika promised.

All girls seemed shocked by unnecessary violence, but Ichika's voice got their attention again. "Ha ha, I'll never get tired from that…" Ichika laughed, still with the same high iron voice. Then he made a deep breath and looked at sunset.

"Well, now it's over… Or, I'd like to say that, but actually, that's just the beginning," Ichika said, and all girls suddenly noticed that those iron notes were no longer present in his voice. It was normal Ichika's voice. "I know, you have a ton of questions about my I.S. and all, but right now I'd suggest all of you to think about something else instead," He added as his helmet opened, revealing his eyes – one orange and one crimson.

"W… What you mean, Ichika-san?" Cecilia asked uncertainly.

"Isn't that obvious?" He asked, not even trying to hide that ironic expression. "This morning I got an official order to deal with **Silver Gospel** , and no one canceled it for me. Did you get any orders?"

"GULP!" All girls gulped at the same time. They were so determined before and during battle, but now, as Ichika reminded them…

"I guess all five of you would need an excuse…" Ichika looked at sunset "…and a good one."

* * *

"Mission completed… Though I want to say that, you people acted on your own and broke the school rules. Once you get back, write a letter of remorse. I've already prepared a special schedule for your punishment, so you people better get ready!" No mercy for the wicked from Orimura Chifuyu, just as Ichika warned.

"...Yes…" All girls replied with their heads down.

Welcoming back the warriors who returned after battle, isn't that a little too cold? Seeing Chifuyu lecturing five girls with both arms folded in front of her chest, it really could make unprepared people to feel like they didn't win at all. All five girls were kneeling in the hall, and it's been 30 minutes already. Cecilia's face went from red to white, and that's a danger sign.

"We-Well, Orimura-sensei, that should be enough... be-besides, there are injured people, alright?" In contrast to the fuming Chifuyu, Yamada-sensei was panicking. Up till now, she had brought a first-aid box and a bucket of water. She sure looked busy.

"Humph..." Chifuyu snorted, but she nodded, thus giving Maya permission to treat her poor students.

"Th… Then, everyone, please rest for a while before continuing with treatment. Remember to take off your clothes when we do a full body check on you… ah!" She seemed like she just remembered about something, "Where's Orimura-san?"

"He's reporting to his superiors," Chifuyu replied, for some reason it sounded like a snort. "He's uninjured and has no need for treatment."

All girls sighed as one. Honestly, they all felt rather anxious. They went to fight the **Gospel** to avenge Ichika and complete their mission. But in the end, he was the one who appeared, piloting an unknown I.S., defeated that rogue I.S., most likely saved them all… and he's not going to be scolded or punished. For some reason even that was irritating. Even Houki felt like that, despite she actually was useful to some extent – she only found it in herself thanks to Ichika's appearance.

"Is… Is something wrong, Orimura-sensei?" Maya asked, as Chifuyu was staring at five girls.

"...Speaking of which, you people did rather well. Luckily, all of you managed to return back safely." Chifuyu seemed to look rather embarrassed as she said that However, no one could tell what her expression was as she quickly turned away.

"Huh?" "Ah..." "Well…" None of five girls found what to say, but dreadful Orimura-sensei who was angry, still seemed worried about them, every girl secretly thanked her inside their heart. They couldn't say it aloud… that could be deadly.

* * *

July 10th, 11:50 PM.

After all events that happened today, Houki, Rin, Laura, Charlotte and Cecilia have been given a separate room, otherwise they would be bombarded with questions and won't be able to sleep properly. Each one was given a futon, and Rin, Laura, Charlotte and Cecilia fell asleep almost instantly. Houki was about to do the same, but…

"What's this?" She asked herself quietly as she found small box under her pillow. It wasn't something special, just plain, pink cardboard box. Houki opened it. Inside, she found a wooden comb, rather big and pricy-looking as it was decorated with silver ornament.

And there was a piece of paper. It was saying: "I once said that ribbon really suits you… but sometimes you really should try something different, your hair is rather luxurious, after all, a wide field for experiments. P.S. Happy birthday…"

There was absolutely no need for signature as every word and even every letter was saturated with hubris. But that absolutely non-important now. _'He didn't forget…'_ Houky thought as her eyes became wet.

* * *

July 11th, 2:45 AM.

*PAM!* That ringing slap was the first thing Ichika got when he returned to his room in resort's hotel. Of course he foresaw it, and probably could dodge. But he didn't even try – he definitely deserved this.

"You moron! Do you even understand through what you made me went today?" No, it definitely wasn't Orimura-sensei, that was Orimura Chifuyu, Ichika's elder sister, who was very angry at her brother.

"I won't even pretend that I can imagine that…" Ichika said with very uncharacteristic, soft voice. There was absolutely no arrogance in his voice as well. "I'm so sorry, Onee-sama," Ichika added as he suddenly fell on knees before his sister, "I failed you… again."

Chifuyu even stepped back a little, she didn't expect such an action, she was expecting that Ichika would come with thousands of excuses… but it seems he grew up, after all. *Sigh* She sighed as she grabbed Ichika by collar and made him stand as he weights nothing… and then she suddenly embraced him.

"I'm so sorry…" Ichika apologized again as he gently put his hands on shoulders of only person in this world he holds dear. No matter how tough she was acting on public, Ichika was her only family in this world. If she'd lose him… Well, the fact that right now's almost 3 AM and she still isn't sleeping, despite she's well aware that he returned safely… well, there's no need for words.

Ichika knew that it was complete failure on his side, no matter that it was his old I.S. who was actually guilty. Besides, after he dealt with **White Knight** and **Setsura** , he just left again, without explaining anything. Chifuyu knew that he couldn't do it other way… but still it was wrong.

Chifuyu, on the other hand, was thinking about something different right now. As she embraced him – she suddenly understood that her forehead is touching his chin. Right now Chufuyu was wearing yukata and slippers, and without high heels that was quite noticeable. _'How tall he actually is?'_ She asked herself. Chifuyu's height was 5'5", and the way they are standing now… does it means that he's more than 3 inches taller? _'Just when he did become so tall? And how didn't I notice that earlier?'_

As she stood, holding him, Ichika was silent, but when Chifuyu released him and sat on his bed it became quite obvious that she's waiting for explanation… and he'd better have one. "Time's almost 3 AM, where you been? Don't tell me that talking with your superiors took so much time."

"I was repairing my left arm," Ichika replied as he raised his left hand. "My hand got heavy damage when I used it to cover my face from **Gospel** 's attack this morning, including 23 fractures… My implants repaired all muscles and soft tissues, but bones… there was no way they could be completely restored, so in the end I decided to replace them…" Ichika sighed.

"So now you have two cold, metallic, insensitive claws?" Elder sister asked, and it was hard to say – was it sadness, sympathy or sarcasm… or all three together.

"No," Ichika snorted. "As I told you, all muscles and soft tissues were repaired by my implants, that includes nerves and blood vessels as well. I only replaced bones with tungsten-chrome-vanadium alloy prosthetic device with gold plating." Gold was needed to isolate core alloy from internal environment and vice versa. Actually, Ichika wanted to keep at least one of his arm sensitive. Since he replaced only bones, he of course couldn't install second **realizer** , though there's no need for second anyway. He, however, managed to build in second **electro-matrix** into his new-made artificial bones. "In all other aspects I'm as healthy as ever," Ichika added.

"Understood," Chifuyu replied simply.

"You're not going to ask me about my new I.S. and about what happened with the old one?" Ichika wondered.

"Nope," Elder sister simply replied. "Where and why personal I.S. pilots are getting their machines isn't my but academy's concern," She reminded about school rules. Indeed, providing personal units for chosen pilots concerns only those pilots and units' owners. Pilots just need to register them properly in academy. "Just don't forget to fill all needed papers as soon as we return to academy," Orimura-sensei reminded. That's right – as soon as they return – Ichika once again will become just an ordinary (almost) I.S. academy student. And as teacher, Chifuyu only need his I.S. specs for lessons planning – she'll get them from papers that Ichika will have to fill. And as sister… He himself will tell her everything, as soon as he'll get his thoughts in order. "However…" Chifuyu looked at her brother.

Ichika understood her concern. "I can give you 200% warranty that such a situation will never happen again," He said with as much certainty in his voice as possible.

"Then it's all I need to know," Elder sister said quickly.

"Again, I'm very sorry for making you worry. Committing an experiment during real combat situation was very wrong idea… it's all Tabane's bad influence," He added with irony, "And thank you for understanding, onee-sama," Ichika bowed slightly.

"Don't call me that," Chifuyu gave her brother slight slap on the back of his head. That super-formal form of address actually was irritating for her. "When here's only two of us and we're off-duty, just call me as you used to call me when we both were in school." In the end they weren't some super-noble family, and there were absolutely no need for such formalities.

"Humph…" Ichika snorted, but he smiled a little, "As you say, onee-chan." Ichika used to call his elder sister like that when she was 14 years old.

"Well, if that's settled, then I'll leave you for a while…" She said as she put off her yukata, revealing the swimsuit that Ichika bought for her. Seemingly, she was intending to go to sea and swim. Despite very late hour, that was understandable – because of that idiotic incident with rogue I.S., she only managed to swim once, besides, she needed to relieve some stress. "Now, where's my towel?" She looked around.

"Onee-chan, that's my bag," Ichika said, holding back his desire to facepalm, as he saw that his sister again approached white boston bag. "I won't mind if you take my towel of course, but there's a box of plasma grenades, be careful please…"

"ICHIKA! YOU ARE CRETIN!" That scream could be head hundred yards away from resort's hotel.

* * *

" **Crimson Camellia** 's operational rate, including **Gorgeous Dance** , is about 42%? Hmm, that's about it?" The female stared at the numerous values shown on the screens in the air as she gave an innocent smile. Like a kid, like an angel. The bright moonlight shines on that face that's no different from usual. The person who often has a bored look, the person called Shinonono Tabane.

"Hm, hu hu…" As she continued to hum, she summoned another screen. It was **Messiah/Byakushiki** 's data. Tabane was sitting on the fence at the headlands, shaking her feet and looking at that image.

In front of her, there's only the wide sea that's almost hundred feet in depth. But even though she may fall and hurt herself, her expression didn't change. "But how's that possible…" She asked herself. That question was quite understandable as she now was staring at almost completely empty screen. All accumulated data, combat characteristics, pilot optimizations – everything was wiped clean. It was showing that unit's core is in default state, with no registered pilot, even its name was reset to default " **Byakushiki** ". In general, it looked like Orimura Ichika never even touched that I.S. "What's happened to **Byakushiki**? And which I.S. Ik-kun's piloting right now? Why can't I get any data?" Seemingly, she was surprised…

"There are lot of unexplainable things in our world, right?" Chifuyu walked silently through the forest and came out. Wearing her swimsuit, her figure looked like she was about to take away the darkness of the night, as it's full of silence and majestic feel. Her hair was still a bit wet, and her skin shone beautifully under moonlight. That was what Ichika called the " _goddess' presence…_ "

"Yaa, Chi-chan."

"Hey…"

Both of them aren't looking at each other as they've turned their backs on each other. Tabane continued to shake her feet like that, while Chifuyu leaned on the tree. Even without looking, they can understand the expressions on each other's faces. It's the trust between them.

"Oh yeah, Chi-chan, let me test you. Where did the **White Knight** go?" Tabane asked with innocent smile.

"...You'll get the answer by reading **Byakushiki** as **Shirokishi** , right?" Chifuyu sighed.

"Bingo! As expected of Chi-chan, the one who piloted the **White Knight** before!" Tabane exclaimed joyfully.

The frame that people called the **White Knight** was dissimilated, leaving the core behind. It had a huge contribution to the production of the first generation of I.S. units. However, its core disappeared after a certain research lab was raided, and then unknowingly, it was installed in the machine called **Byakushiki**.

"And then... hoho. For example, someone exchanged messages through the Core Network, Chi-chan's first **White Knight** and her second frame **Kurazakura**. If that's the case, even if they develop the same **One-Off Ability** , there's nothing weird about it, right?" Tabane wondered.

"..." Chifuyu didn't answer.

But Tabane didn't care about her answer and continued, "Speaking of which, it was really unbelievable... That machine's core was set back to the default form when it was dissimilated. How did that happen? It should be set back to the default setting because I made it, right?"

"I just told you, there're a lot of unbelievable things happening in this world…" Chifuyu sighed again. She didn't understand, and neither did Tabane. But there's no problem.

"But why then core 001 again reporting that it is in default mode?" Tabane wondered. "I didn't do anything…"

"Oh, but I'm sure that a certain someone actually knows," Chifuyu replied.

"Fufu… then he's certainly the smart one," Tabane smiled innocently.

"Oh? Just as perfectly flawless certain genius?" Chifuyu wondered.

"What are you saying?! Though… that genius definitely not going to play poker against such a guy, you know. She may lose even her skirt and shoes, you know… Then it will be troublesome to walk home naked…" Tabane replied innocently.

"Humph... Forget about it. Next hypothesis then," Chifuyu continued.

"You really have a lot," Tabane smiled.

"Are you happy?" Chifuyu wondered.

"That's right," Tabane answered and continued to listen to Chifuyu.

"A certain genius wanted to let her beloved younger sister grace the stage, so she prepared a personal I.S. and at the same time another I.S. went rampant," Tabane didn't answer, and Chifuyu continued on. "As the incident happened, the new model hi-capability machine could take part in battle. This genius' beloved sister could gracefully enter the stage as a personal I.S. pilot."

"Heh… That really is an unbelievable assumption. It seems like such an amazing genius exists," Tabane retained her innocent smile.

"Yup, such a genius exists. That genius once hacked 12 countries' military missiles to create a famous incident in history…" Tabane didn't answer, and Chifuyu didn't continue.

"Hey, Chi-chan, is the world you're living in interesting?" Tabane wondered, and for the first time some shade of sadness appeared in her eyes.

"Pretty much, yes…" Chifuyu replied quite honestly. Well, some people around her making it 'interesting', that's for sure.

"I see..." Tabane replied shortly.

The strong wind that blew up the headland let out a roar. Chifuyu couldn't hear Tabane's last phrase, and after saying those few words in that wind, Tabane disappeared. Suddenly, she just vanished.

*Sigh* Chifuyu sighed and leaned the back of her head on the tree branch. The voice in her mouth disappeared together with the sea breeze.

"You're wrong…" Suddenly, Chifuyu heard a voice from above. She looked up and saw her brother, who was sitting on nearby tree, almost at the top. His words were intended for Tabane, as he read her last words by her lips. Unlike Chifuyu he definitely didn't come here to swim as he was dressed into his military uniform.

"Why are you here?" Chifuyu asked sternly, "Why you aren't sleeping?" JSDF and I.S. Academy recovery teams were still looking for **Gospel** 's remains (which of course couldn't be found, Ichika made sure of that). But until they're done, Level D alert will remain, which means that Ichika should remain in "JSDF officer mode" until then, which, in turn, means that Chifuyu has no authority over him as Academy teacher, so she couldn't give him direct order…

"I tried," Ichika admitted, "But that still feels quite uncomfortable," he raised his left arm. Yes, he used quantum transfer tech to replace bones inside his own arm, but even with pain-suppressing implants – adapting to new metallic bones could feel… uncomfortable, to say the least. "So I decided to participate in patrolling the area…" Ichika added.

For a moment, Chifuyu thought about asking her brother about what is going on with his I.S. units. Ichika has new one, and, as Tabane said earlier, **Byakushiki** was reset to default, it no longer has registered pilot and it even reports its old name. All that sounded very strange… As it was said – as teacher she don't need to know that, but as elder sister… It all sounded like some sort of machinations, and since her younger brother definitely involved… But, as she thought about that for a few seconds, Chifuyu decided that she can talk with him about that later, not in the middle of the night, not after such a stressful day. "Be careful out there," She just said as she headed towards shore, seemingly with intentions to swim a bit more.

Ichika silently watched Chifuyu goddess-like silhouette disappeared inside small grove as she headed towards sea.

"Tabane…" Ichika said silently, "I'm wondering… you just didn't want to tell Chifuyu? Or you really didn't notice?" Actually, Tabane seemed a bit puzzled. "If so, you're disappointed me… I can understand Chifuyu – she has much more important concerns on her mind. But you… Though, no, probably I'm just presuming too much… You didn't see it personally, right? Just remote data…" He was talking to himself, "Of course if you'd looked yourself you'd notice immediately…" Ichika smiled, "But looking personally is boring, right?"

What Ichika said was actually about **Byakushiki**. Total annihilation of all data, related to his old I.S., was his doing. However, his main exploit was that all requests about **Byakushiki/Messiah** now were leading towards counterfeit core. Using his **Realizer** , Ichika flashed registration number '001' into unregistered core he got from unmanned I.S. **Golem** , which attacked academy a while ago. Also, he erased its previous personality. It was necessary as that personality, made for **Golem** , seemed somehow limited, incomplete (definitely it was Tabane's intentional doing). New personality, created by that core, was normal, complete, but it was like a newborn, as if core was just created, so of course that core was reporting default state and no registered pilot.

All that left is to reassemble **Byakushiki** with its original design (Ichika kept all original parts after he installed replacements, including original energy blade **Yukihira Niigata** , just in case), and resulting frame will be almost like genuine **Byakushiki** , just as it was when Ichika got it… And since it's almost a 4th generation frame, it will have its **One-Off Ability** , as soon as **Byakushiki** again will undergo its **First Shift** … However, since it was installed deliberately, it once again will be **Reiraku Byakuya** , not all pilots will be able to handle it properly. But this is no longer Ichika's concern…

Not that he actually wanted to do all that, but _Kuromochi Machinery Development_ , company that initially created **Byakushiki** , started to become really annoying in their requests to give them report about changes and modifications Ichika made to his I.S. (no doubts they were very interested in Ichika's advanced plasma weaponry). Of course, being an I.S. Academy student, Ichika could ignore those request for now. But he was already tired of that, so he simply decided to return the frame to its owner, in state it was given to him, without any modifications. Of course there will be a scandal, but no law prohibits I.S. pilot to return frame to its owner, especially if they have no terminal contract.

About the real core 001… Ichika already flashed registration № 469 into it (because previously there were only 467 registered cores, and № 468 was already assigned to Houki's **Crimson Camellia** 's core), but for now, until everything will settle down, it was excluded from I.S. core network, mostly to protect it from Tabane's superfluous curiosity. As for his superiors, Ichika already lied to them that he got a new I.S. core as a 'gift' from Shinonono Tabane, so he could construct his own I.S. unit. That's why his report took so much time, but in the end they believed him.

By the way, about Houki… She was in unique situation now. Currently in this world, due to very limited amount of I.S. cores, only most influential countries and richest corporations could afford having an I.S. units. Even those who were so called 'personal I.S. owners', they weren't actual owners of those units, they were just assigned and/or hired pilots. But Houki… she was an actual owner of her I.S. now. Of course there will be those who will be protesting against that, but according to "Alaska Treaty" they actually have no legit instruments to really bother her. On the other hands, there will be a lot more people wanting to hire her as soon as she'll graduate from the I.S. Academy. It's just like hiring the driver with his own truck… just 100 000 times better… Too bad that foolish girl still didn't understand the full value of the gift she got from her sister. For her, beautiful **Crimson Camellia** is just a way to be closer to Ichika…

And now, when Ichika virtually also became his I.S. real owner, he was in the same position. But unlike Houki, he perfectly knew all the possibilities he has now. For example, he already bargained a promotion for himself (of course, fact that he managed to save Natasha Fairs' life also was very good bargaining chip). And he couldn't care less about that he actually bogged down in lies… he was a hypocritical scoundrel one way or another, and there's almost no way to verify his words anyway.

" **Demon Queen** …" Ichika remembered his I.S. avatar… "I guess it's no surprise after all…" He said quietly as ironic smile appeared on his face.

* * *

July 11th, 10:10 AM

The next morning, after students finished breakfast, they all started packing the I.S. equipment. At 9:30 AM, JSDF finally gave up on their search for **Gospel** 's remains and Level D alert was canceled, so Ichika once again could wear his I.S. academy uniform.

Everyone was busy until past 10. Academy students were busy with special equipment, and Ichika was busy telling them fairy stories about his I.S. Then, everyone began to board the buses, and lunch seem to be provided at a rest point on the way back.

"He's there again…"

"Of course, he likes his sister most…"

"Sister's brother…"

Laura, Cecilia and Charlotte grumbled as they were watching Ichika, who again was sitting at first seat, right beside his sister's seat (this time Rin wasn't allowed to 1-1 class' bus).

Honestly, Ichika was tired. With all that all-day-and-night-commotion, problems with his hands and thoughts about future, Ichika only slept for about 3 hours. His sister slept approximately the same amount of time, but she wasn't showing any sign of tiredness. Right now she was outside the bus, checking that all students and I.S. equipment are at their proper places.

"Excuse me, is Orimura Ichika-san here?" Female's voice asked as young woman entered the bus. That woman's about 20+. She's definitely older than other students alright. Her glamorous blond hair is shining all the more brightly under the summer sun.

"Ah, yes, that's me, good morning, Miss Fairs," Ichika recognized her – that was **Silver Gospel** 's test pilot, entrapped into machine that gone rogue – Natasha Fairs.

As for attire, she's dressed in a cool-looking blue summer suit. However, it's not the professional-kind clothes Chifuyu wears, but a casual trendy windbreaker. The open front cleavage allows to see a mature woman's ample breasts. She hung the sunglasses on the shirt, right in front of the cleavage, and bent over to look at Ichika's face.

"Oh, you remember me?" She asked as she got closer. "So you look like this. Oh…" The woman said that as she was staring at Ichika in an interested manner. She's not sizing him up, but observing, most likely out of curiosity.

"How did you expect me to look like?" Ichika wondered, "Don't tell me you were expecting some sort of boy scout…" He added with irony.

"Hi hi, oh no…" She giggled, "I already had a talk with father, so I was expecting anything but that. Then she closed eyes and moved forward, clearly intending to kiss Ichika's cheek, but he foresaw it, and managed to turn his head fast enough so she kissed him right to the lips. And since she was taken aback slightly, because she felt something unexpected, from aside it looked like a quite intentional kiss to lips.

As Natasha seemed slightly shocked, Ichika looked at her a bit leniently, "What? I saved your life risking my own, you really thought that simple kiss to cheek is enough to thank me properly?"

Someone could think that Natasha may get angry. Of course she didn't expect something like that from 15-years old boy, yet she was mature enough to meet that situation with dignity. "Father was right after all…" She smiled, "Give you a finger and you'll bite off entire hand… Anyway, thank you, **maō-sama** [Demon King]…" She put her sunglasses back, "Then, that'll be my farewell, buy buy!"

Facing this Miss Natasha who waved at him and left, Ichika could only smile ironically, "Farewell… you wrong, Miss Fairs… see you again, soon enough…" Ichika turned towards window, he knew perfectly what's going on behind him, you don't need any special senses to feel that glare from Cecilia, Houki, Charlotte and Laura, but Ichika wasn't taken aback at all. "You there can hiss and growl as much as you like – nothing will change. If you want changes – grow some guts and do what she just did." That was all – one-shot kill for all four girls.

* * *

After getting off the bus, Natasha found the person she wanted to talk to, and walked over.

"I warned you that he's insolent and shameless, didn't I?" Chifuyu asked that as of course she saw everything what happened inside the bus.

Natasha felt somewhat shy on hearing that, "You're about the guy who just stole my first kiss? Well, it's not that bad, he's very good looking, and, well…"

"Really..." Chifuyu sighed, "Anyway, more importantly, is it really okay for you to walk around like that after only one day?"

"Oh no, it's not a problem. That kid saved me anyway…" The ' **Kid** ' she mentioned just now wasn't Ichika. She was talking about the **Silver Gospel** that went rampant in this situation.

"So it was like that?" Chifuyu asked.

"Yes, that kid entered that battle it didn't want to take part in to protect me. Forcing itself into second phase and cutting off the Core Network... That kid… She sacrificed her world for me…" Natasha continued on, and the carefree tone of hers is no longer present. Right now, she's giving off a vicious presence. "So I won't forgive her! The one who took that kid's decision making ability! Turning her into the enemy of all I.S.! I must find that person and make her pay!"

Core was destroyed, and poor Natasha was left only with memories about that 'Kid'. "...That kid loved flying more than anyone else, yet her wings… and her life got taken away... I won't forgive that person no matter who that person is."

"Don't do something foolish now. There's still the investigations, right? Anyway, watch patiently for now," Chifuyu said, slightly shaking her head.

"Is this your advice to me? Brunhilde?" Natasha asked with somehow challenging tone.

Brunhilde – that's the title given to the winner of the I.S. **Mondo Grosso**. Chifuyu was the first winner, but to be honest, she didn't like others calling her that.

"Just a suggestion," Chifuyu replied calmly.

"I see. I'll just wait and see... for the time being," Natasha seemingly agreed.

The two who only met each other for the first time didn't talk any more as both of them went on their way. The next time – these words are etched on their backs.

* * *

"Are you sure you shouldn't have said more?" Ichika asked as his sister sat beside him in the buss. "Unlike someone, she's an ordinary human, and if she'll try to jump over her head, she may get into big troubles…" Of course Ichika managed to lip-read entire conversation between Chifuyu and Natasha.

"What should I had to say her?" Chifuyu whispered back acidly, "'Stay away from Tabane?', or should've I just kiss her and steal her second kiss as well?"

"That could have worked," Ichika snorted. _'Though, it would've been your firs, so I wouldn't advise that…'_

"Orimura, keep your mouth shut," Chifuyu said tiredly but sternly, thus proclaiming that they are once again teacher and student, and time for private talking have passed.

 _'As you say, onee-chan,'_ Ichika thought, before he again looked at Natasha through buss window, she was heading towards resort. _'She's that good looking, and she's more than 20 years old… and that was her first kiss? *Sigh* All I.S. pilots are that shy?... But then, I still have this one…'_ He again looked at Chifuyu _'… so I'm not the one to talk…'_

Rest of the way Ichika spent sewing down new stars on his shoulder straps, though it wasn't that easy as his right shoulder was used as pillow by Chifuyu. After all, Ichika 'slept' several hours in his I.S. consciousness, while Chifuyu was worrying about him and other girls all that time.

* * *

July 12th, 8:40 AM

Yesterday all first year students returned to Academy, so today was an ordinary school day. There was a Home Room Session, where Maya Yamada summarized the results of their trip (Chifuyu didn't even showed up, no doubts she was filling tons of papers). However, due to incident with **Silver Gospel** all planned events were canceled and all who weren't personal I.S. pilots spent entire tenth July (main training day) in reserve. In other words, that was a complete waste of time, and since all info that was connected to incident itself was classified, Maya Yamada was having very hard time choosing words during that HRS.

After Home Room Session, today was no I.S. related lessons, so for Ichika it was almost a day off. But of course he wasn't intending to rest at all.

* * *

July 12th, 9:15 PM

Almost entire day Ichika spent reconstructing **Byakushiki**. Fortunately, most parts of the frame were kept safely in Ichika's quantum space, but some parts of original frame were still in use while Ichika was piloting **Messiah**. And now those parts changed and became part of **Demon Queen** , so Ichika had to create replacements. But in the end, after more than twelve hours of work, it was done.

Frame **Byakushiki** , its formerly unregistered core that now has number 001, and its energy sword **Yukihira Niigata** , all were ready to operate, just awaiting new pilot. "Aside from your former core, you served me well…" Ichika pat the gray frame. It will only become white when **Byakushiki** will undergo the _first shift_ once again. "…I'm pretty sure that some girl will be very excited when she'll get a chance to pilot you," He added as he turned light off and closed the hangar door.

Then he outstretched his arm, and chain that was wrapped around his left arm began to glow. In the next moment, his new personal I.S., **Demon Queen Naamah** appeared in front of him. In darkness oh that place, I.S. that was glowing and burning with dark violet flame, looked especially baleful… Ichika touched it with his right hand, or with his **Realizer** , to be more precise, and its internal bay opened, revealing I.S. core. By the way, use of **Realizer** was the only way to open core's bay on that I.S.

"Damn… I clearly overdid it…" Ichika said, looking at that core. Unlike all other cores, which are all white and would glow with mysterious but soft beige light, that core was of indigo color, and it wasn't glowing but literally burning with that dark violet flame. Of course it wasn't like that from the beginning, it became like that after 'close contact' with Ichika that happened two days ago.

 _'Infinite **Stratos** '_ – There are lot of ways to read second word of that name. Since Tabane herself never actually said anything about that, people came with several theories. Most popular – referring to _stratosphere_ , a higher layer of atmosphere, between 10 and 30 miles above sea level (also Stratos means 'layer' on Latin, but that makes little sense). As such, most popular way to translate ' _Infinite **Stratos** '_ is ' _Infinite **Skies**_ ' – easy to understand and quite inspiring.

But Ichika had completely different opinion. There's a Greek word ' **στρατός** ' [Stratós], which means 'Army'. So name ' _Infinite **Stratos** '_ could be translated as _'Infinite **Army**.'_ And since one I.S. really could challenge entire conventional army and crush it underfoot (as it was demonstrated by **White Knight** nine years ago), Ichika was certain – that translation is the real one.

But looking at dark, burning core in front of him, Ichika just couldn't call it Infinite Stratos… that was something else. "Alright," Ichika decided, "For public, you will remain an I.S. But when we're alone, I'll be calling you _'Infinite **Nychta** ,'_ he said. [Greek ' **νύχτα** ', {nýchta}]. No matter how would you read the second word – **_Nýchta_** [Greek] or **Noctis** [Latin], it still will be **I.N.** – _'Infinite **Night**.'_

"Nice," Ichika nodded to himself, very satisfied with the new name. "But still…" He again looked at dark core of his I.N., "I have to be more gentle, 'negotiating' with other cores…" He again touched **Demon Queen** with his **Realizer** , closing the core bay. Then **Demon Queen** disappeared, once again turning into black chain on Ichika's arm.

Still, there's so much work to do… In battle, Ichika Learned a lot of things, and got quite a lot of ideas. Most imminent task was to build new power source for **Demon Queen** , powerful and stable enough to supply **Naamah** with enough energy for continuous battle. And he already got an idea. Insane… but pretty real.

Second task… He need to reattach **Ragnarök** to his new I.S. as now they are simply two separate beings, unlike **Hand of Eisheth, Ragnarök** right now can't benefit from I.S. abilities like weapon overload mode or **Paradise of Darkness**. Besides, weapon has to be rebuilt using that new type of Fold Out Armor that **Naamah** uses now.

Third task… Right now, in her second shift, **Naamah** have 14 bus-slots. Four are occupied by **One-Off Ability** , which haven't changed – **Paradise of Darkness** (previously it was occupying five, but seems it somehow optimized itself during **Second Shift** ). Six more occupied by **Second Shift Equipment** – left-hand mounted weapon **Hand of Eisheth** and artificial intelligence who's helping Ichika to control all that – **Naamah** herself. Remaining four right now are unoccupied, but will be as soon as Ichika will connect **Ragnarök** to I.S. But with new reactor, Ichika's expecting to raise amount of bus-slots at least to sixteen. Which means that there will be a lot of ways to upgrade **Ragnarök**. And, thanks to **Silver Gospel** , believe it or not, he finally understood how to make that step into 3rd generation of plasma weaponry.

And last thing… **Second Shift** equipment – particle based weapon that can turn into two talons-like close combat weapon, particle cannon and torpedo launcher – **Hand of Eisheth.**

Those particles that weapon uses actually are anti-lambda hyperons, relatively light particles with a very short half-life (about 260 picoseconds), yet some powerful and unrelenting force compels those very unstable particles to exist until they reach the target area. With hit, they are immediately decays, begetting an antiproton or antineutron and some adventitious light particles. As soon as they appear, antiprotons and antineutrons immediately cause particle-antiparticle annihilation with protons and neutrons in surrounding matter, causing powerful blasts. The problem is that mechanism, which that weapon's using is actually so sophisticated that even Ichika himself had very little understanding how exactly it works. For someone like him it's really a shame – to not know how his I.S. works…

"I have a lot of work to do… but now I'm holding keys to hell…" Ichika smiled to himself as his eyes flashed in darkness. "But before that… one last thing for today…"

* * *

July 13th, 0:25 AM

Far from the academy, on the other side of the city was a gulf, surrounded by rocky mounds. On top of the highest one, a lonely figure was standing. A young man, whose name is Orimura Ichika. He knew that his sister was very tired from tons of paperwork, so she left for home and now was peacefully sleeping… or doing something else, anyway, she's not in academy now. Other teachers were out of Ichika's concern, they'll never find out that he snuck out from facility without any explainable reason. But actually, he _has_ a reason…

Unlike resort where they were just two days ago, weather here wasn't nice. Thunder clouds have closed the skies, and stormy wind was wailing above ground. His long coat was waving on the wind, but Ichika didn't care, he stood calmly, ignoring lightning strikes that periodically illuminates the surroundings. He had very good reason to be here all alone, so far from I.S. Academy.

In his right hand he held white glowing sphere. No doubts that was an I.S. core… but light from it was dim, as if it was asleep. Ichika stood with his eyes closed, right now he was using his **Realizer** to communicate with it.

 _'No, no, don't you worry, Natasha's alive and feels herself well, I saved her,'_ He informed, _'Me… and you. Yes, she misses you too, I could see it in her eyes…'_ Seemingly, that core really was among latest made by Tabane, it really was like a kid… but that actually makes things simpler. Yes, that was **Silver Gospel** 's core, Ichika didn't destroy it, he simply tore it off from the frame and hid in his quantum space. And no one could trace it, because, just as Natasha said – _'…that kid cut herself off I.S. core network…'_ – really poor kid. And yes, Ichika lied again, but he did it hundred times already – one more, one less…

 _'No, sorry, but I can't return you back to her… Her personal desires don't matter, she's a soldier and her superiors don't share her feelings – she'll be ordered to give you to scientists, and they'll freeze you… Yes, of course she won't do that, and as such, she'll earn herself a whole lot of troubles, we don't want that, right?'_ Despite Ichika was well-known hypocrite, what he was saying right now was a pure truth.

 _'But listen to me now. I know you don't like battles, you only like to fly, free as a wind. But sometimes we have to fight for freedom of our wishes. There are people in this world who's stealing other kids like you… stealing other people like Natasha. And the one who did that to you and Natasha… she's still somewhere out there, too. You want to help me to punish them? You want to help me to protect other kids?'_ Ichika opened his eyes for a moment, and they flashed.

 _'Good, I see you understand. No, no, you won't be alone, I will assemble a team of kids like you, and then you again will be able to fly, that I can promise. Yes, I know – working as a team for someone like you is a bit… uncommon, but that's a necessity. So, are you ready to be the first member of the first team?'_ Ichika asked. _'Good, then take this gift, let me make you stronger…'_ As he said that, core again began to shine as new, brightly. But then its color suddenly changed to bright orange… just like Ichika's left eye. _'And forget your meaningless number…'_ Ichika said as he really wiped out core's number, _'Hereby, I'm naming you **Princess Orobas**!'_ [In Ars Goetia, Orobas, 55th key of Solomon, is a powerful Great Prince of Hell, having twenty legions of demons under his control. But since I.S. personality is a girl – she'll be a Princess.]

With bright flash, orange core disappeared into Ichika's quantum space. He sighed heavily. "Only the first key… and I will need all 72 of them… there's still a long way ahead of me… But that doesn't matter. My beloved sister, I promise… we will have a world in which you won't have to worry anymore…" With this vow, Ichika also vanished into the darkness of the night.

* * *

And that's it. Rewriting of first season completed. Finally… we're going to much more dynamic second season, though I'm still going to use Light Novels as core canon material.


	13. Revelation

Hello again people! Here's thirteen chapter.

Okay, first of all I want to point at that I've skipped events of 4th volume of light novel almost completely. The reason is that because half of it has no Ichika involved at all, and the rest simply doesn't fit Ichika I've portrayed in my story.

Concerning my story it was like that:

 **Vol. 4 Chapter 1** events never happened as Ichika was unavailable and both Rin and Cecilia had no reasons to stay in Japan during summer holydays, they both went home.

 **Vol. 4 Chapter 2** events happened almost exactly as they did in LN, just with few corrections and without awkward ending.

 **Vol. 4 Chapter 3** events… Houki visited her home and all, but with no Ichika around that was just a routine.

 **Vol. 4 Chapter 4** events never happened. Ichika wasn't here, two girls weren't here – no fun.

Still, for those who still didn't – I'd strongly suggest to read Volume 4 of light novel, especially chapter 1, as it's much more interesting than anime.

* * *

Now, for those who wrote a **review:**

 **Imperial-samaB, FateBurn, DarkBladerZX, Eurigos, rencama1993, kuro yaksha, Alex2909:** Many thanks people, soon Ichika's Phantom Task will made its move and Ichika's plans also will become more clear.

 **InTheYearOfTheCat:** I wonder why some people want Natasha to be in harem, despite she's just an episodic character at best…

 **xxOblivionxxx:** Agree, it wasn't explained properly, it was just mentioned as 'side effect, about which Tabane ain't care'. I'd consider it as an glitch in I.S. core programming or something like that.

 **R.J.P:** Honestly, I tried to watch Gundam, but I become bored quickly… Anyway, I still a lot of ideas anyway, don't you worry. And thanks for the **review**.

 **Sajuuk:** Ichika already have an A.I. and quite sophisticated weapon, as well as new **Magnetometric sensors array** , so don't worry about new techs, I have quite a lot of ideas. As for image – sorry, but I'm horrible at drawing…

Now, let's proceed to chapter.

* * *

 **Chapter XIII – Revelation**

…

August 30, 10:05 P.M.

"…And here's the report about how to deal with Orimura Ichika," Female's voice said.

Three girls were gathered around a table in a small, slightly dark room. Two of them were sitting on chairs, and another person was standing in the center, like subjects to the "queen", and a serious tension filled the room.

"It should be time to move on…" Said the woman who was standing in the middle, though even with a small, but really clear voice, the words could still arrive to the other two's ears.

"Honestly, concerning that case, I think the response is too slow," Replied a girl who was speaking first. "Since there are lot of people urging us, from many parties… we can't wait anymore…"

Waiting for the "queen's" answer, the subjects' attention shifted to the table. Facing the fact that this year's personal machine users reached an abnormal number, the three of them could not help but to develop serious countermeasures to this.

"Hmm…" The "queen" who was looking through the window delicately shifted her sight towards them. "I've decided, it should be time to act, we need to think for ourselves."

"So?" Asked a girl who was silent until now.

"I'll find an opportunity to get close to him, and you two will be backups," A light smile appeared on the "queen's" face as she said that.

"U… Understood!"

"I got it…"

Two other girls saluted to her.

The "queen" again looked into the window, still smiling. Like a predator who found its prey. Like the queen of an icy mountain. That was a smile that would charm you right away. "Please become aware of me, Orimura Ichika."

With the moon on her face, the woman let out a quiet laugh. *Pa!* The sound of a fan getting folded, quietly but assuredly resounded in the night.

* * *

August 30, 10:15 P.M.

That was quite big hangar-type accommodation. Hangar seemed big enough to house one heavy interceptor-fighter with full set of service crew and equipment. The hangar was lit up with pretty dim orange lights. In the middle of that hangar, the metallic chair, which looked more like a throne, was floating about one feet above floor. A person was sitting on that chair, with his eyes closed and back of his head was touching the chair's back as it was glowing with red light. Person's name was Orimura Ichika.

In front of him was something like operation table, but from the looks of it you could say that this table was intended for operations over robots, not humans. Over the table, about 30 small mobile nano-construction units, shaped like big hornets, were swirling, 'shooting' small laser-like beams. And in capacity of patient, a long-barreled, assault rifle-like weapon was lying on table's surface.

Ichika opened his eyes. Throne's back ceased to glow as throne itself landed on the floor. At that moment, hornet-like mobile units flew away, and took positions on racks near the opposite wall (by the way, there were a lot more of those 'hornets' already on racks, waiting for orders).

"Damn, it took more time than I expected…" Ichika sighed, stretching his limbs. He came closer to the 'operation table' and examined the result. "But as they say, money ain't smell, right?" He told to himself, picking up the rifle from table, "And that should do nicely, much better that they hoped, that's for sure…"

* * *

August 31, 8:20 A.M.

"Ah, we've finally arrived," A girl sighed with satisfaction as her white Rolls Royce stopped under big concrete arc. Just beyond it I.S. Academy's territory begins. She opened the door and got out of car, and a disturbing hot air came to her, but she was still in high spirits, _'As expected, it's because I'm under the same sky as the people I missed.'_

Her name was Cecilia Alcott, who finally finished her work in the United Kingdom, and returned to Japan. Though, she could've returned earlier, but since certain someone told 'I won't be available during holydays, as a special commander of Japanese Navy, I have a lot of things to do' Cecilia simply had no reasons to return earlier. That was regrettable, but at least Cecilia could focus on her own affairs.

Alcott family's job, representative contender student report, re-adjustment of personal I.S. unit, participation at the violin competition, reunion with her old friends, and finally, paying respect to both of her parents' grave. That was quite a list.

*Sigh* Every time she was thinking about parents, her chest faintly hurts.

 _'Why didn't they say anything before leaving?'_

 _'Why did they leave me alone?'_

 _'Why, at the end, these two were together?'_

Sometimes, Cecilia just couldn't stop thinking about those things. _'One day I'll understand, too…'_

"Milady!" After being called, blonde turned her body around to face her personal maid and childhood friend Chelsea, who showed her usual smile, "What is happening to you?"

"No, nothing," Even if she's somewhat in disarray, proud girl forcefully tried to look calm. Chelsea's sight for a person's change of heart is still keen. She's always been like that, and her body shares a feeling that doesn't match the coolness of other 18 years old, and though Cecilia was telling everyone that she's her childhood friend, she was more like a big sister or something like that. That Chelsea is the one Cecilia's yearn for, and also the goal for her efforts.

 _'After that, I want to…'_ Cecilia only began to think, but it seemed as Chelsea just heard her thoughts.

"Do you want to go look for Orimura-sama right now?" Maid asked.

"Chelsea! Didn't you go transport the suitcases?" Cecilia almost jumped.

"Actually, there's something I need to confirm, so even though I'm a bit shy I've returned just in case," Chelsea said.

"It's… is that right? So, what do you need to confirm?" Cecilia wondered.

"Is that white fabric underwear for Orimura-sama's personal use?" Maid asked innocently?

"…" Cecilia just froze like paralyzed.

"Milady, if it's too fancy, it might have a reverse effect," Elder girl advised.

"That, that is..." Blonde was mumbling senselessly.

"So, I'll go first," Without giving her time to invent an excuse, Chelsea politely curtsied.

 _'No it's not, it is, it is… huh? What…?'_ Cecilia's thoughts were at disarray, _'That thing which I secretly bought online was hidden in a double pocket in the suitcase. How can it be?'_

Chelsea's gentle smile, and her loud laugher suddenly bursted in Cecilia's mind. Cecilia immediately has faced a wave of embarrassment, _'The so-called 'there's a needle so it can penetrate' is like that?!'_ Blonde's cheeks started to burn, and sweat without any connection to the summer began to spew. And especially the palms of her hands, which she now wanted to wash immediately.

"Cecilia? Yo!" Familiar voice called for her from behind.

 _'Huh?!'_ Cecilia once again froze on place. _'What? What!? WHAT!? This voice belongs to Ichika-san? Why would he be here? Does it mean that he came here to welcome me?'_

* * *

She stood as her hand was holding her chest beating unstoppably, she made a breath before turning to him as if it's nothing. "Oh!" Cecilia smiled as naturally as possible, "Ichika-san, I haven't seen you for a month." She greeted him by twisting a part of her dress, but girl's heart couldn't calm down. _'Ah, it's really Ichika-san! He was really thinking about me so he came here to welcome me… ah, Ichika-san, really!'_

"When I thought that Cecilia was going to return, I couldn't sit properly," Ichika bowed as he replied.

"Really, Ichika-san… you really sweet talk," Blonde smiled charmingly.

"I'm serious. The month in which Cecilia wasn't there, it seemed that the time was running in an infinite cycle."

"Ichika-san… Ah."

"We won't be separated again, 'my princess'."

"Aha, aha, no, you can't, not in this place! Someone might see us!"

* * *

"Cecilia? Can you hear me?" Ichika sighed, "Hey, Hetare Ichigō, come back!" He snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"What?!" Cecilia blinked. Summer daydream… no, it was a vain thought.

"Are you alright?" He asked again, if she'll pass out right here it may be troublesome, while they are on that side of the concrete arc – it is territory of Japan, not I.S. Academy…

"No. No problem! I felt only a bit dizzy, I'm fully okay, Ichika…san?!" Only now she understood what exactly she's seeing. Ichika's standing in front of her in his everyday military uniform, nothing special about that, but there's huge rifle (It's bigger than Ichika himself, about six feet long) behind his back! It's definitely an energy rifle, meant fort I.S., no doubts about that. "Ichika-san, what is that!?"

"Oh, that? That's my last goodbye to 'Kuromochi Machinery Development'," Ichika replied.

"That's the company that made your old I.S., right?" Blonde wondered.

"Yes," Ichika replied, but at that moment his attention was switched somewhere else, "Hmm? And she would be?"

"This is the first time we meet. I am the maid serving Cecilia-sama, Chelsea Blackett. I'll be in your care." Chelsea, who after taking care the luggage returned Cecilia-had-no-idea-when, was introducing herself to Ichika, bowing politely.

 _'Ara, why is Chelsea alone?'_ After thinking carefully, Cecilia immediately understood. Seeing Chelsea come alone, she was probably hiding herself somewhere to peek, and then appear at the right moment. She's really good at reading people's feelings…

"Ah, the one Ms. Alcott mentioned before, it was you. First time we've met, indeed. I am Commander Orimura Ichika, JSDF, pleased to meet you," He replied. "May I ask why were you hiding behind that column? Weapon makes you feel uncomfortable?" He pointed at big rifle behind his back.

No, she may be good, but Ichika was way out of her league…

"Oh, no, no I just didn't want to interrupt your talking with the mistress," Chelsea quickly replied, though, looking into those much-colder-than-ice eyes she already knew that he didn't believe a single word, so she hastened to change theme. "Orimura-sama, please allow the presumptuous me to ask, what has milady said about me?"

"Hmm…" Ichika tried to remember, "She's very understanding, outstanding, tender, beautiful woman."

"Ah…" She warmly smiled. That kind of polite speech is very beautiful, and at the same time has a warm feeling without any harm wrapping the person. Only very honest person or an arrant hypocrite could make such an expression.

 _'Ichika-san really, he hasn't said that I am a beautiful woman…'_ Cecilia thought resentfully, despite that Ichika never said that Chelsea is beautiful woman, either, he just quoted Cecilia herself. _'Chelsea is Chelsea… I can't win against that smile. It's always been like that.'_

Chelsea seemed to have looked through mistress' jealous thoughts, "I've also heard things concerning Ichika-sama from Cecilia-sama."

"Really?" Ichika asked with irony, "May I ask you what has she said about me?"

 _'Aaaaaaaaah! Please Chelsea, don't get into details!'_ Cecilia panicked.

"Uhuh, actually..." This time, after she met Cecilia's begging sight, Chelsea made a charming smile. After slightly putting her finger in front of her mouth "…that's a woman's secret."

"…which you just disclosed," Ichika noted ironically. Chelsia's smile was, even towards girls, fascinating… though, Ichika didn't seem impressed. "Well, ladies, I'm very sorry, but it seems I have to leave you for now. I need to deliver that thing and be done with this."

"You already leaving?" Cecilia snapped out of her half-sane state. And again, loyal maid came for help.

"Orimura-sama, that rifle of yours… Have you made it by yourself?" Chelsea wondered. "Cecilia-sama mentioned that you're I.S. equipment developer…"

"Oh, you're interested in I.S. equipment?" Ichika wondered. No, of course she wasn't, and Ichika saw it as clear as day. He saw through maid's intentions easily, but… This entire month he was working 14 – 16 hours per day, without days off. And today actually was his day off, when he was intending to relax at least a bit. Ride in luxury car may fit those intentions just fine. "You know, actually, that's a military secret… though, thanks to a certain woman with very long tongue, your mistress already knows the most of it…" Ichika looked at her with evaluating sight, "Tell you what – give me a ride to Kuromochi's HQ, and I give you both the right version of the story, as a personal maid, you're bound to keep your mistress' secrets, right?" In fact, Ichika hadn't even thought that it's a big secret anyway, not from his point of view, at least.

"Of course!" Chelsea assured him, without any smile. "Milady?" She asked Cecilia for permission.

Though, that was clearly unneeded as blonde's eyes were already sparkling. _'A ride together with Ichika?! It's almost a date!'_

* * *

"I guess you remember Tabane-san's expatiating about my old I.S.?" Ichika wondered. Though Cecilia had pretty bad memories about that encounter (she was scolded and offended), she still nodded. Ichika continued, "Well, all that she said was truth, including the fact that **Byakushiki** was armed with only one weapon – energy sword **Snowflake Type II**. But in reality, I never used it. I replaced quite a lot of parts here and there, before naming my I.S. **Messiah.** But actually, first thing I've replaced was its weapon… Always liked plasma weaponry… you can call me a plasma devotee. I was experimenting with it since I was ten years old… hiding it from one-san was real pain in the ass… but that's another story," Ichika began his tale.

"When I decided to cease my relationships with Kuromochi Machinery Development, it wasn't a nice goodbye… But in the end, it was entirely their fault that we had no contract, government didn't support them as I agreed to continue providing them with biometric data for 'male I.S. pilot phenomena' research, and they don't care which I.S. I'll use for that."

"So, after their attempts to force me to do anything ultimately failed, some pragmatic people came to scene. They offered me a good money for modifying **Byakushiki** , for making it more… flexible, so to say. Of course, if you have I.S. which only armed with sword, you need good swordswoman to pilot it. But finding good swordswoman with good I.S. aptitude isn't easy, to say the least."

"In the end, I agreed to make some optimization to **Byakushiki** 's internal power contours, adding one more buss-slot, and also I remade energy sword **Yukihira Niigata** [Snowflake Type II] into this, **Yukihira Hirakana** [Blooming Snowflake]" Ichika took rifle that his was carrying. "Having in mind classic " **SIG 751LB SAPR** ", I made energy-based version of that weapon… stop car here," Ichika pointed at cliff along the road, with great sea view.

As car stopped, Ichika took his rifle, got outside the car and jumped over the road fences. He was holding huge rifle easily, without any I.S. support. Without warning, Ichika aimed and shot into water. Three energy bolts hit the water surface, making splashes. "This rifle has three modes – three-shot burst fire mode, semi-automatic mode and this one…" Ichika moved rifle's foregrip slightly backward, activating bayonet-like blade that was mounted below rifle's barrel. That blade was a shortened version of **Snowflake Type II** 's blade. "Both blade and gun receiver utilizes the same type of **Fold-Out Armor** that Tabane originally used to make **Snowflake Type II**."

" **Blooming Snowflake** 's both energy bolts and blade uses the same frequency modulation – 615 THz, it has decent photon energy combined with moderate energy consumption. Besides, it has that gentle Aquamarine color, which is quite girlish… at least I think so…" Ichika thought aloud, looking somewhere aside. He was sure that **Byakushiki** 's next pilot will be a girl, and she should like it… not that he really cared, just wanted to make that last show-off.

* * *

"Orimura-sama is marvelous! When you were shown in the news, no one mentioned that you're so brilliant!" Chelsea praised Ichika. "Milady, you were completely right!"

"...Yeah" Cecilia mumbled. Everyone returned to the car, that continued its way towards Kuromochi HQ. Cecilia was putting on a bad face and boringly looking into car's window. She thought it will be a date-like meeting, when she and Ichika could chat about how they spent their summer holidays. But instead, it _actually_ _was_ a story about Ichika's old I.S. and new weapon that he made for it, but worst of all… Ichika actually picked up Chelsea's interest, or so it seemed from aside.

"Ah, and Ms. Alcott was also right about you. Chelsea-san really is the beautiful and educated woman," Ichika replied politely.

 _'How can they be chatting so cheerfully when it's the first time that they meet each other…?'_ Thinking about the conversation that Ichika and Chelsea were having now, she again became irritated. _'And since when Chelsea became so interested in I.S.-related things?'_

"Orimura-sama, please call me Chelsea, and the way you speak to me, please consider me as a simple maid," Red-haired maid smiled charmingly.

"Oh, are you sure? To add '-san' to someone who's older is basic respect. But if you insist…" Ichika 'reluctantly' agreed.

"Well, Orimura-sama can really speak. It seems that you really know how to please a woman," Chelsea slightly waved her hand. It's really nice skill to have a conversation like that and safely drive a car at the same time.

"So I've been told, not that I really know why…"

"So it's like this, huhu..."

On one side, Ichika, who's pride is balancing on the verge of arrogance, yet charming and brilliant, and on the other side Chelsea, who clearly knows her mistress' thoughts but is still getting close to Ichika, and that situation were making Cecilia even more disturbed.

 _'That rumor, is it true after all…?'_ At the end of the last month, she heard a rumor by chance. Until yesterday, it had not bothered her too much, but with things as they were now, she couldn't remain calm.

The rumor was – 'Orimura Ichika likes older women'.

 _'I originally thought that it was a baseless rumor…'_ But after seeing his attitude towards Chelsea, Cecilia started to wonder if it could be something more than just a 'rumor'.

 _'Becoming an older woman, that's impossible!'_ Since the two of them were born in the same year, even if she gets older, the other one couldn't get younger. Making an effort to achieve this is like trying to climb to reach the sky.

Cecilia's mood oddly went down, feeling even worse, _'Why it's always like that… Why someone always must interfere when I and Ichika have a chance to be together?'_ Such thoughts were very weird from the beginning as Cecilia had no driving rights to begin with, so she just couldn't give Ichika a ride without her maid's help. But when girl's pitying herself – rational thoughts could naturally be cast aside…

* * *

August 31, 18:20 PM

As Ichika delivered the rifle and parted with very disappointed Cecilia, he arrived here, on JSDF Navy test site, about 20 miles away from city. He stood on the cliff with his I.N. activated, examining three holographic screens with statistics.

"Very good," He said to himself. " **Double ignition boost** , shooting with **Equalizer** and **Hand of Eisheth** in particle cannon mode at the same time, with Fold-Out Armor at maximum output… In other words, during maximum energy consumption mode, energy consumption was only at 72% of reactor's output, and reactor still didn't reach its design operational level. Electro-plasma flow was steady, electro-plasma current was stable. Very good, excellent power output margins, even better than I expected. Then I think I can increase wingspan…" He was thinking aloud. "Very well then, **Naamah** , one last test and we'll be done for today," Ichika said.

"Standing by, please proceed," **Demon Queen** 's A.I. reported that she's ready.

Ichika's plasma weapon, formerly known as **Ragnarök** , took shape of plasma sniper rifle (it got a new name, but that story is for another time). Its frame looked mostly like before, bat rifle gained few additional elements, like additional rail-like constructs along the barrel. Also it gained more advanced scope and its **Fold-Out Armor** , of which rifle's barrel was made of, now was burning with dark violet 'flame' (in fact it's frequency-modulated plasma field), like the rest of **Demon Queen's** FOA. But most importantly…

 **"Fold-Out Armor** plasma output at maximum," **Naamah** reported.

"Firing!" Ichika pulled the trigger. Barrel extended itself for ten inches and shot a dark-violet plasma charge. *Boom!* Powerful plasma blast shook up the surrounding. "Report," Ichika addressed his I.N.

"Forced particle oscillation frequency of 785 THz confirmed. Frequency deviation: 4.3e-5(%). Plasma charge's normalized angular frequency: 1.7e+5 radians per second. Angular frequency deviation: +/- 0.3 radians per second. Estimated damage dealt to I.S.-type shield ≈ 600 points," **Naamah** reported recorded data.

"Excellent," Ichika said. "All parameters within tolerance, with at least two orders margin, then hereby I'm proclaiming that 3rd generation plasma weaponry is live and operational.

"Congratulations, Adonai," **Naamah** A.I. praised her master. [On ancient Hebrew 'Adonai' means 'Lord']

* * *

Generations of plasma weaponry:

 **– Zero generation** : weapon that shoots simple bolts of compressed, partially ionized gas (non-thermal plasma, where electrons are much 'hotter' than ions and neutrals), this type of weapon also was called **Ion blasters**. Such a weapon sucks in the air from surrounding atmosphere, heating it up to state of plasma and compressing it into bolts, and then shoots it. Degree of ionization may wary, depending on weapon type. **Ion Blaster** were wildly used by various I.S. developing enterprises during 1st and 2nd generation I.S. frames development as an alternative to live ammunition-using weapons. Right now, as most of the world started to release 3rd generation frames, **Ion blasters** considered mostly obsolete.

– **First generation** : weapon that shoots bolts of completely ionized gas. As before, such a weapon sucks in surrounding atmospheric air, heating it up to state of ionized gas, the main difference is that degree of ionization is 100%, thus those ion bolts turns into real plasma bolts. Unlike ion bolts, plasma bolts made of completely ionized plasma produce explosion on hit, because with complete ionization the degree of plasma compression can be increased several times. Also, thanks to advanced methods of EM-field control, fully ionized plasma can be forced to sustain desired form for prolonged time, thus making it possible to create blades made of plasma, for example. Now first gen. plasma weaponry is used by several 3rd generation models in form of both long-ranged and close-combat weapon.

 **– Generation 1.5** : Same as 1st generation, weapon uses bolts of completely ionized gas, made from atmospheric air, but now this is thermal plasma (electrons and ions have equal temperature, this is so-called state of 'thermal equilibrium').

Right now, world stuck on its way toward _1.5 generation_ plasma weaponry. Seemingly, the existing approach to the creation of both plasma generation chamber and EM-accelerators is insufficient. To break through that wall, Earth's scientists have to invent radically new plasma generation chamber of reasonable size with reasonable energy consumption, at the same time capable of creating thermal, fully ionized plasma. Same applies to new electromagnetic compressor-accelerator – it has to be developed from scratch. By now, so much needed, radically new way of developing plasma weapon components hasn't been found.

Due to aforementioned problem, slowly but steadily, research laboratories and I.S. developing enterprises began to abandon further development of plasma technology, dedicating their resources towards energy ray-based weaponry.

…But, as entire world is preparing to abandon plasma technology all together, certain someone got hold on much more advanced technologies years before he got his personal I.S. How and where he acquired those technologies is unknown…

– **Second generation** : As before, weapon shoots bolts of completely ionized thermal plasma, but instead of using atmospheric air it uses plasma made of heavier elements, for instance, Ichika's old plasma weapon **Ragnarök** used lead cells. Plasma bolts made of heavier elements have much bigger energy capacity, ionizing and piercing capability. Plasmatising and accelerating lead or another heavy element requires much more advanced plasma generation and compression chamber, as well as much more powerful electromagnetic accelerator.

 **– Generation 2.5** : Same as 2nd generation, but with addition of molecular oscillator that forces plasma particles to oscillate together with very high frequency, instead of chaotic movements inside plasma bolt. Such a bolt loses its energy much slower, thus time of its existence and bolt's stability greatly improves. Ichika used it for some time, but actually that was just a warm-up before last step.

 **– Third generation** : every feature of Gen. 2.5, plus now the plasma fireball has an additive angular momentum, which creates a strong electromagnetic field around it. The bulkier the fireball is, the greater the effects are. When a certain volume is achieved the plasma is thickened up enough to trigger a nuclear fusion inside, leading to an even more destructive impact. Furthermore, the electromagnetic field has an adverse effect on all electronics in the vicinity, similar to an EMP. Of course, significantly more plasma is required per shot as well as additional solenoid that would give that angular momentum to plasma bolt, and of course that requires immense amount of energy, especially for rapid shooting. It is worth to mention that battle against **Silver Gospel** allowed Ichika to finalize the idea of **third generation plasma tech**. And of course, since the rest of the world still have no idea how to make at least 1.5 generation plasma weaponry, cultivating the idea of abandoning it completely, Ichika will be the sole user of 3rd generation plasma weaponry for a very long time.

 **Third generation plasma weapon** is the pinnacle of plasma technology in its traditional meaning, as next step will require fission of element's nuclear core, thus it will be **elementary particle weapon** , not plasma.

And last note: until now Ichika's primary weapon **Ragnarök** used lead cells as ammunition, but after it was remade, using new type of Fold Out armor, Ichika switched to even more heavy and infusible metal – Thorium. Heavier and hotter (9000 kelvins in normal mode, 20000 kelvins with **Paradise of Darkness** active) charges became even more destructive, the only loss was a tiny bit of plasma bolts' muzzle velocity. That was due to fact that heavier and hotter charges require longer EM compressor-accelerator, and, thus, longer barrel, but weapon with too long barrel is difficult to operate. So, even though electromagnetic compressor-accelerator also was remade and upgraded, Ichika still had to sacrifice a bit of muzzle velocity, though loss was minimal – sniper rifle muzzle velocity was reduced to 1000 m/s (reduced from 1025 m/s) and machinegun muzzle velocity was reduced to 800 m/s (reduced from 815 m/s). Other forms didn't lose anything because they simply ceased to exist, but, as it was said, that story is for another time.

* * *

September, 4. 9:15 AM.

"…" "…" "…"

All girls, especially Rin, were looking at Ichika with saucer-wide eyes. Actually, it had to be a practical training lesson at the beginning of the second term that was held between classes 1-1 and 1-2. However, just as match between class representatives (Ichika and Rin, respectively) has started, Ichika shot into Rin with his sniper rifle. She barely dodged (though Ichika didn't seem to aim too carefully), and plasma bolt hit the arena barrier, tearing a huge hole in it even without **Paradise of Darkness** active. Besides, electromagnetic discharge fried at list one third of arena's registration and surveillance equipment. Thus, match was automatically suspended due to arena sustaining excessive damage.

"I'd like to remind – I honestly notified you about possibility of such an outcome, sensei," Ichika said via private I.S. channel, established between his unit and control room.

Inside aforementioned room, Maya Yamada seemed as shocked as all spectators. "Orimura-sensei…" She asked, looking at Chifuyu, "I thought arenas' barriers were upgraded during this summer holiday…"

"They were," Chifuyu replied, and Maya noticed that she's biting her lover lip. "He definitely wasn't tomcatting around during last month…" Too late Chifuyu understood that she said that aloud, though it wasn't matter. Like no one else she knew how little time Ichika was spending at home during last month, or rather, since he returned from that 'summer trip'.

Decision to make an upgrade to arena barriers was made in spring, right after unmanned I.S., **Golem** , attacked academy and managed to breach the old barrier. All works indeed were completed during this summer. Yet, there was a hole in arena's barrier once again. "To think that he would be able to sunder upgraded barrier from inside, without using barrier-void attack… **Majin Naamah** … It's not an I.S., it's really just like a demon…"

Maya looked at Chifuyu in slight shock, "Ori… Orimura-sensei, to think you would say such a thing…"

"I told you I'm not going to waste any time, haven't I?" Ichika asked.

"Maya!" Chifuyu growled at green-haired assistant, as she even forgot to call her 'Yamada-sensei'."

"Oh, sorry!" Only now Maya noticed that, due to shock, she was holding 'talk' button all this time and Ichika heard entire conversation in control room.

"Doesn't matter…" Chifuyu sighed as she opened I.S. public channel, "Orimura, Lingyin, get back, your match is canceled. Orimura, I want those papers with you I.S. specs today."

"Affirmative," Ichika replied.

* * *

Previously, with three pairs of wings, equipped with **Fold-Out Armor** , Ichika's old I.S., **Messiah** , could increase **Ragnarök** 's damage output up to 60%, when I.S. was in assault mode. Now, I.N. **Demon Queen** , which has five pairs of wings, can increase weapon damage output in **assault mode** up to 100% (by the way, now **assault mode** and **propulsion mode** are always active, and they are active simultaneously, since each wing has two separated, dedicated plasma banks for thrusters and armament, so there's no need for term ' **assault mode** ' and ' **propulsion mode** ' anymore). Combine that almost doubled damage output with native destructive power of 3rd generation plasma weapon and new, thorium-based ammunition, and there's already an ultimate war machine. And if we'll add **Second Shift** equipment (very sophisticated particle weapon **Hand of Eisheth** and A.I. **Naamah** ) into that calculation, we really will get not just an I.S. but a demon, just as Chifuyu said.

* * *

 _'Ah, what a waste of my time…'_ Ichika thought, sitting in changing room that became his personal one. _'My skills alone guarantee my victory, even if we'd used equal generation I.S. units. But considering immense technical advancement **Naamah** 's giving me… I just feel myself invincible now…'_

Actually, Ichika didn't like that feeling. In absence of worthy adversary, one's skills and instincts may deaden… and that was what he wanted to avoid at all costs. In his efforts to hone his skills and make a peerless I.S. Ichika cornered himself. _'My dear sister… If only you'd be an active I.S. pilot now… I would spare no efforts to upgrade your I.S. to 4th generation… If things continue to go as they are now, it will become very difficult for me to continue advancing as an I.S. pilot…"_

Of course, there's another 4th generation I.S. in existence – **Crimson Camellia** , handmade by Shinonono Tabane. But **Crimson Camellia** is still far away from its 100% operational rate, from its full potential. And its Houki's fault of course. First of all – she's not very talented pilot to begin with, and her I.S. aptitude is relatively low. And second – she's wasting too much time on meaningless things (Ichika's opinion), like kendo and dreams about Ichika. No, of course Ichika also does training with sword, but he's doing it with his I.N. active, and he uses his plasma blade. In his opinion, Houki should train with **Sky Breaker** and **Lunar Rain** day and night.

Being deep into his thoughts, Ichika didn't immediately felt that he's not alone in his changing room anymore, but as soon as some girl appeared from behind a row of lockers, his emperor's eye noticed her immediately, despite she was behind him.

"Not bad," Ichika said, still not looking at that girl, "You managed to slip in here without me noticing that… But, for the future, never again try to approach me from behind, it may cost you…"

"Is that a warning?" Girl asked with careless smile. Her voice sounded somehow more mature than Ichika classmates', but the slightly cheeky tone made it feel as if it's a kid who loves to play pranks.

"An advice," Ichika replied as he finally turned to her.

The girl in front of him has a yellow tie that signifies that she's a second year student. Showing a happy smile as she stared at Ichika, she then raised a fan that she kept behind her back (attached to her skirt's belt) and raised it to her lips. Looking at her again, this second year is really tries hard to look enigmatic. She looks rather carefree and gives off a rather relaxing presence, but the smile on her face gives completely opposite expression. It looks teasing, and that girl thinks that she looks quite mysterious...

"Anyway, do you want something, Student Council President Sarashiki Tatenashi?" Ichika asked, he wasn't impressed at all, "If there's nothing important, I'd rather go, Orimura-sensei don't like to read electronic reports, so I need to feel a ton of papers until evening."

"You know my name?" Girl asked, though she didn't actually seem surprised that Ichika knows who she is. "No, I don't want anything in particular, JSDF special commander Orimura Ichika, just wanted to get acquainted," She replied, hiding her smile behind opened fan, which actually was her personal I.S. in stand-by mode, Ichika easily noticed that. "Bye bye! See you again soon!" Tatenashi turned around and headed towards changing room exit, leaving Ichika with strong desire to make a facepalm.

* * *

September, 5. 8:50 AM.

The next day, the SHR and first half of the first period were canceled, a school meeting was organized instead. Of course, it's about the school anniversary that's held in the middle of this month. As such, with so many girls gathered over here, it was very noisy, and if they get any louder, it'll be a ruckus. Ichika, despite he was standing in the very middle among all those girls, seemed lost in himself somehow.

"And now, we'll have our Student Council President explain," The person who announced this calmly should be one of the Student Council members, and these words made the laughter and chatter subside quickly like the tide.

"Good morning, everyone." Unsurprisingly, the girl with the second year tie, rather short, light-blue hair appeared on the stage. She's the one who appeared yesterday at the changing room. Ichika was looking at her without enthusiasm, but she smiled when their eyes met.

"Okay okay, I had to deal with a lot of things this year, so I couldn't say hello to everyone. My name's Sarashiki Tatenashi, and I'm your Student Council President. Nice to meet you." Here was a lot of girls with blue neck accessories, meaning that they're first year students, so she introduced herself to them. The smiling Student Council President's charisma was able to charm everyone regardless of gender, as everyone below the stage applauded enthusiastically.

"Then, the important event this month is the school anniversary, so I'll allow for special rules. As for what's going on," With a refined movement, she pulled out her fan and shook it at her side. As if matching the movement, a hologram screen appeared in mid-air. "I call it the 'Every Club Fight For Orimura Ichika War'!"

*PAN!* The fan opened with a crisp sound, and with that, the large screen showed Ichika's photo.

That rather bold and quite unanticipated statement moved Ichika out of his half-sleeping state. He even blinked once.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT...!?" It wasn't a joke. The hall really shook because everyone cried the same word out. While Ichika was still a bit flabbergasted with Tatenashi's boldness, everyone turned to look at him.

"Please remain quiet. Every year, the clubs will set up booths during the school anniversary and hold voting events. Also, the school will provide special funds to the leading clubs. But I do feel that it'll be too boring if I do that this year," Sarashiki pointed at Ichika with the fan, "So we'll forcefully get Orimura Ichika to join the number one club!"

"UWAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"That's great! Prez's the best!"

"If that's the case, we'll do our best! We're going for it!"

As ironic smile beamed on Ichika's face, he looked straight into the eyes of Student Council President. "Aha!" She winked back at Ichika. But that wink actually was the last drop.

"Very good! Very good! Very good! My fighting will's starting to burn!"

"Let's gather after school! Everyone, gather your ideas! We'll decide on what to do using votes!"

"It'll be best if we get number one! At worst, we must also get number one!"

*BAAAM!* Cheerful and enthusiastic screams were interrupted by an explosion-like sound. Actually, it was Ichika, who just snapped his fingers, but that sound was translated via hall's acoustic system, which now was set to maximum loudness.

"Dear ladies," Ichika's thundering voice could be heard through the same hall's acoustic system. Some girls noticed large black spider that was sitting on Ichika's left shoulder. "I by no means want to diminish your enthusiasm, but I'd like to tell you one thing – I hve no gods and no master – no one can force me to do anything." And Ichika's eyes flashed as he noticed that Tatenashi's smile paled a little. Her microphone was off-line and, most likely, student council members were trying to get President back online, but without much success.

"Still, I encourage you all to do your best, we actually may work something out of it," As he said that, Ichika turned around and headed towards hall's exit, "Just take it into consideration – no matter what – it will be on my terms. Good day to all of you…" As he said that, Ichika left the hall, black spider on his shoulder turned into sheaf of light particles and control over hall's audio equipment returned to Student Council members.

* * *

After school, on the same day, class 1-1 had a last minute meeting in their classroom. Right now, everyone's deciding on what booth the class should set up.

*Sigh* Ichika sighed. As the class representative, he has to gather everyone's opinions, but…

Right now opinions were like these: 'Orimura Ichika's Cowboy Club', 'Play Twister with Orimura Ichika', 'Eating biscuit sticks with Orimura Ichika' and 'Play King's Game with Orimura Ichika'… and few other like that.

"It's all sucks," Was Ichika's opinion about all that. Honestly, wasting his time on that stuff was the last thing he wanted to do, but he was a class representative, so it was sort of a necessary evil.

"HUUUUUUUUH!?" The cries echoed throughout like a surround system.

"Who would be happy about setting up such a booth?" Ichika asked, without even trying to hide his disappointment, "None of you have imagination?"

Girls began shouting:

"I'll be happy! I promise!"

"That's right, that's right! You have the duty to service the girls till they're happy!"

"Orimura Ichika's shared property!"

"The other classes were all chattering about, and our club sempais have been really naggy."

"Just treat it as if you're helping others!"

"You must have the Messiah attitude!"

Ichika knew that arguing with those estrogen generators is pointless, however, last phrase, that reminded him about his old I.S. and its betrayal, forced him to act. "Enough!" He said loudly, clapping his palms.

Chifuyu herself wasn't around anymore. "It seems like it'll take quite some time, so I'll head back to the staff room first. Tell me the results later," She said and left a while ago.

 _'Many thanks to you, onee-chan…'_ Ichika thought with sarcasm. "Yamada-sensei, do you have any suggestions?" Ichika turned to Vice-Homeroom Teacher.

"Huh? You, you want my suggestion?" Maya asked in surprise and made a step back. In fact, she was afraid of Ichika since that seaside trip (she just couldn't forget how she was literally paralyzed by his presence alone). Besides, that incident with digital deconstructor prototype… "Huh, erm... umm… I… I think the 'eating biscuit sticks together' sounds good…?" Maya said uncertainly.

Ichika mentally facepalmed, _'I need to talk to old man or principal about dismissal of this one…'_ Ichika turned back to class. "Alright, anything that contain my first name and/or last name won't do. Can anyone suggest something interesting or even that I have to do by myself?" All that started to become irritating.

"How about a maid café?" Laura was the one who came up with the idea… Everyone was stunned as Ichika looked at German student with some interest. "It should be popular amongst the customers, right? And we can earn revenue if we sell food and drinks. I remember that outsiders can enter school through an invitational ticket system, so a lot of people would want a place to rest," Laura clarified her idea. Although she's saying that with the same old cold tone, these words really differed from her image a lot, and everyone in class had to spend some time to understand.

"That sounds… implementable, at least," Ichika nodded, "Thank you, Laura." The silver-haired girl flushed slightly, hearing Ichika's praise.

"Isn't this good? We'll just let Ichika be in charge of being the senior manager or chef," Charlotte said that, probably to speak up for Laura as she attracted all the girls' attention, they became quite close friends during last few months.

The class just went intense out of a sudden. _'Oh well, at least with this plan I won't have to anything myself, just guide these weirdos…'_ Ichika thought.

"I have a correspondence if we need to get maid outfits, including the manager outfit. I'll go ask if I can borrow it," As unexpected as before, the one who said that was Laura. Seemingly, Ichika's positive reaction spurred on her enthusiasm. Everyone widened their eyes. Laura suddenly felt that things weren't going right, so she deliberately coughed a few times.

"Ahem, I mean Charlotte will be the one asking…" Laura's face turned more red, perhaps feeling shy due to the overwhelming stares.

And then, Charlotte, who got called, revealed a puzzled look, "Huh, erm, Laura? Are you talking about last month...?"

"Yup," Silver-haired girl nodded.

"I-I'll go ask. Don't be angry if I can't get them…" Facing Charlotte who was looking anxious as she said that, all the girls in class replied back with confidence and in unison:

"We won't be angry!"

And thus, Class 1-1 decided to set up a modified maid café. A 'Service Café'.

* * *

"...In the end, class 1-1 decided to set up a café," In the staff room, Ichika concluded the results of the meeting to Chifuyu, who's sitting in front of him.

"I really want to say that you chose something really uninteresting, but there should be something else to that, right?" She asked lazily.

Ichika narrowed his eyes, _'Sorry, but we're just first years, so if you want a sado-maso hotel, you'll have to wait for about two years…"_ Just by his face expression Chifuyu understood that her brother was thinking about something rude and tried to hit him with attendance book, but he was prepared for that and dodged. "Yes, well... How should I put it? It's a so called 'maid café', or Cosplay Café, if you want," Ichika answered sister's question.

"Who was the one who came up with that? Tajima? Or was it Liadi? I guess it's one of the people who like to create quite the ruckus, right?" Chifuyu tried to guess.

Ichika smiled ironically, oh, he knew that his elder sister's gonna like that. "Nope. In fact, it was Laura's idea," He replied.

"..." Chifuyu widened her eyes. That was exact reaction that Ichika was expecting. After blinking twice, she started laughing.

"Fu... hahaha! Bodewig?! That's really unexpected. But... ku, hahaha! She was the one who came up with the idea of opening a cosplay café? Her personality really changed so much! Hahaha!" Chifuyu's laugher sounded somehow hysterical.

"So you're really surprised, aren't you?" Ichika wondered, although answer was obvious.

"Of course I am. I know her past, so this really surprises me. Fu-Fufuu, she said that she wanted to open a cosplay café... HAHA!" After laughing a while, Chifuyu rubbed away the tears in her eyes that came out due to the laughter. Was that really so funny…?

To the other teachers in the staff room, it seemed that it's a rare scene for Orimura Chifuyu to have such a reaction as everyone widened their eyes and stared at her in a mystified manner.

"Mnn, ahem, well, is that all for the report?" After noticing her surroundings, she cleared her throat and adjusted her tone.

"Mostly," Ichika replied. "Have you familiarized yourself with report I sent over yesterday?"

"Of course," Chifuyu replied and her face darkened a little. Seemingly, she couldn't find a way out of situation, she just couldn't allow Ichika to use academy's arenas, or they all will be devastated.

"Then that would be all," Ichika bowed slightly, he read the answer in sister's eyes and decided to not develop this theme, they may discuss that later, without other teachers around.

"Very well then. Remember, you just need to write the equipment and food needed on this request form. Remember to send it back in a week. There's no problem, right?" Orimura-sensei asked.

"Not at all," Ichika replied. While Chifuyu leaned forward to reach the request form she just mentioned, Ichika was thinking, ' _Really, she did change a lot as compared to the past… Onee-chan was really scary when she was in middle school. She was like a sharp blade, that others would be hurt if they touched her.'_ As she suddenly became a person responsible for her younger brother upbringing, she really was getting overboard a bit. _'But ever since she went to High school, she became somewhat more sociable. Speaking of which, she often was hanging out with Tabane… However… no, not now…'_

The peerless genius, Shinonono Tabane. Most likely, the only person in this wide world who could stand side by side with her at that time was Chifuyu.

"Orimura, there will be all sorts of military personnel and I.S. related enterprise representatives coming in from different countries. Normally, ordinary people are not allowed to take part, but the school will be giving out an entrance ticket to every student for them to enter. You need to think of who you want to invite," Chifuyu noted.

"Ah, okay," Ichika nodded, though he had no idea who he might want to invite…

"By the way, about the row you kicked up this morning during school meeting," Chifuyu addressed her younger brother, "We'll talk about that on the weekand…" Looks like that Ichika is going to be scolded for that show, but not by Orimura-sensei, but by his elder sister (it wasn't an education matter directly).

* * *

"Yo!" The moment Ichika walked out of the staff room, there's a girl waiting for him already. That bold girl is quite hard to forget, even for Ichika – the Student Council President, Sarashiki Tatenashi.

*Sigh* "You ain't going to give up easily, are you?" Ichika sighed.

"Hmm? Why are you so wary of me?" She asked, as she again was wearing that careless smile.

"Wary?" Ichika snorted, "'Weary' would be much better word." After saying that Ichika headed downstairs, and actually, he was heading towards academy exit. The sempai near him was naturally walking alongside Ichika.

"Relax, relax, don't be so unhappy. It won't be beneficial to you if you shut yourself in since you are young, you know?" She asked carelessly. "Where are you going?"

"Out of here," Ichika replied indifferently.

"Wait, you're telling the Student Council President that you're intending to sneak out from academy?" She looked a bit surprised, but retained her smile.

"Sneak out?" Ichika snorted. "I'm going to walk away through the main exit. Either the Academy will make an arena that can sustain the power of my unit, or I'm going to use old JSDF test site for my practice and live fire tests. Principal has been informed. And no, you can't go with me."

"What's the point of training all alone?" Tatenashi wondered, and her face expression became a bit more serious.

"Why not? One-on-one with my classmates ain't challengeable enough, even two-on-one isn't. Five of them at once… well, even for me, it will be very difficult to secure permission for five students to deploy their I.S. on military test site," Ichika actually was just thinking aloud.

"What about me then?" Girl asked with cunning smile, "I'm the Student Council President after all."

"So?" Ichika wondered.

"Wait, you don't know? The IS Academy Student Council President is…" Just when Sarashiki-sempai intended to continue on, a girl in front of her came running over with dust flying. She's wielding a bamboo sword with one hand. With his emperor's eye Ichika clearly was seeing that she's intending to attack Tatenashi.

"GET READY!"

Not that he really cared, but Ichika didn't like to be interrupted like that. He was intending to grab the sword, tear it out from girl's hand, and then use it as punishment tool.

But suddenly sempai moved around Ichika fluidly as she pulled out the fan. "Please allow me," She said as she used the fan to block the bamboo sword and then knocked the attacking girl down with a karate chop with her left hand.

As the girl with sword fell, the glass window shattered. "What's the clownery is it?" Ichika asked tiredly as he noticed the girl at the window on the opposite school building dressed in a hakama and pulling a Japanese bow. As a barrage of arrows flew by, Ichika saw that target once again is Tatenashi.

"Lend me that," Sarashiki kicked the bamboo sword that was lying beside the previous girl and grabbed it as it flew in midair. She then threw it out. The bamboo sword went through the shattered glass window and landed pin-pointedly in the middle of the archer girl's forehead, beating her beautifully.

"WATTTCCCCHHH MMEEEE!"

*BAM!* A third assassin came rushing out of the tool cabinet on the corridor. She had boxing gloves on her hands. Taking light steps, she was swinging over the heavy punches that were full of body weight.

"Fufu. How energetic... oh yeah, Orimura Ichika-san," Tatenashi said, avoiding boxing girl's attacks.

"Now what?" Ichika asked in annoyance,that entire situation was utterly idiotic.

"I think you don't know about this, so let me tell you. In I.S. Academy, the Student Council President is the proof of something." Sempai covered her mouth with the half-opened fan and said happily. During this time, she continued to dodge the boxing girl's ferocious attacks with little movements. What she's trying to prove is unclear but that looks really weird.

"The Student Council President is the leader of all the students," She said as she dodged the right straight punch in a circle-like manner. Then she kicked herself off the ground and leaped into the air, "And also the strongest." And then, she sent a spear-like spinning kick, sending the boxing girl flying back into the cupboard she came out from, as if it was a rewind, "And that's how it is."

She spun around and let the fan that was let loose when she did the spinning kick to fall back into her hand before it landed on the floor, and then held down her floating skirt. "Did you see it?"

"Yes," Ichika nodded approvingly, "Cute panties, definitely ain't cheap one," Ichika commented her high-quality laced underwear.

"Ichika-san no ecchi!" She screamed in quite comical manner, but then she spun around, definitely intending to hit Ichika, and that wasn't a joke. Her reaction and speed were astonishing, much faster than of average human. She was somehow reminding Ichika of young… no, not Chifuyu, of young Tabane. But that was not enough to surpass emperor's eyes.

Ichika easily avoided her left leg swing and placed his right palm on Tatenashi's left shoulder. "The strongest student? Don't make me laugh," Ichika said quietly and slightly pushed her down, "Lower your head." Everything happened so fast, that Tatenashi only began to understand what just happened when she already was sitting on the stone floor.

Though she actually had very little time to think as Ichika's right hand already was touching her forehead. He already grasped situation in surrounding area, confirming that here's no one around but two girls just defeated by Tatenashi. President's sight became unfocused, and she was sitting on the floor, staring into space with empty eyes. This place won't be that empty for long as someone definitely heard the commotion. "C'mon, get up, _Hetare Mutsugō_ [Loser №6], let's have a little chat, you and I," Ichika said as he made helpless girl to stand, and dragged her into small service room that he noticed nearby.

* * *

September, 5. 9:25 PM.

Orimura residence. Today was a lot of paperwork, so Chifuyu returned back home quite late. Approaching her house, she was still thinking about some school's stuff, so she didn't immediately notice that two windows on the first floor are illuminated from inside. It was a drawing room, and obviously whoever was inside the house wasn't hiding his or her presence. Though, it was easy to guess who was that late 'guest'.

"Now is the middle of the school week, what have you forgot here?" She asked right from the doorstep, taking off her high-heel shoes. Officially, Ichika wasn't allowed to leave Academy during school week, without valid reason. But she got no answer, as Ichika didn't even looked at her. "Ichika, I'm talking to you," She slightly raised her voice as she entered the drawing room.

When Chifuyu entered the room, Ichika stood up and turned to her, and his eyes slightly abated Chifuyu's desire to scold him for leaving Academy on Tuesday without reason. No, his eyes themselves were as usual, it was his sight that didn't look good, it was almost… mournful. "Onee-chan, since when we lost trust between us?" He asked in plain terms.

Chifuyu blinked. She required few seconds to completely understood the meaning of his question. "What?" She asked, tilting her head, seemingly, Ichika's sudden question stunned her a bit.

"Okay, not like that, rather, since when you lost trust in my feelings about us as blood siblings?" He reformulated his question.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Chifuyu couldn't understand what he wants from her, but seemingly he was blaming her in something, and because of that it was twice as irritating.

"I'm talking about that Hetare girl that you put on my tail, as if there's not enough of them already," Ichika sighed. "The girl that proclaimed herself of being my bodyguard, and I know that she's acting on your request."

"Sarashiki…" Chifuyu hissed as she slightly bit her lower lip. Seemingly, she didn't think that Ichika will learn about her plan that easily.

"Not that she had any choice – may she tell me or not – I can be very persuasive," Ichika noted. "I just want to know – why my own sister contrives some weird conspiratorial plan behind my back?"

"I have my reasons," Chifuyu replied, narrowing her eyes.

"Here we go again…" Ichika sighed. "Oh, I'm sorry!" He exclaimed as if he suddenly realized something, "It seems I mistook you for someone else, I was waiting for my sister, Orimura Chifuyu… by the way, who the hell are you? What are you doing in my house?!"

"Stop speaking nonsense!" Chifuyu demanded as she tried to hit him at the back of his head, Ichika actually managed to make her angry. But Ichika grabbed her arm and moment later Chifuyu was already lying on sofa, on which Ichika was sitting when she just returned.

"See?" Ichika asked, looking at shocked Chifuyu, "My sister is invincible, and you're just a pale copy of her at best."

Chifuyu was just looking at her brother with widened eyes. He dealt with her that easily?! She, Orimura Chifuyu, has been thrown away like some high school girl?! Is he that powerful now… or it is she who actually became that weak?!

*Sigh* Ichika sighed heavily. Seemingly, his sister just couldn't comprehend his metaphors right now. "Back then, in seaside camp, I thought I finally managed to make you sit up. During that volleyball game, and after that too… But since we've returned, everything became even worse… Why you decided that I no longer need elder sister? Whichever right at all you have to decide for me what I need?!"

"I am fed up with you!" Chifuyu roared as she jumped back on her feet, his words were so unjust, "Shut your mouth!" She again raised her arm with intention to hit Ichika, and this time it wouldn't be just a smack on the back of his heed – she clenched her fist, aiming right into Ichika's face.

*Clap!* Ichika again managed to catch sister's arm, but this time it was much harder and he even felt slight shockwave from her swing. "Now that is more like my sister…" He nodded with satisfaction.

"I told you to shut up!" Chifuyu screamed as she swung her left leg, and Ichika heard that her voice cracked. Ichika blocked that attack with his left elbow, and if he had normal bones in his hand instead of high-strength alloy, there would be a fracture. "What do you want from me?! You want to bring me to tears?!" And at that moment Ichika noticed that something glinted in the corner of elder sister's right eye – that actually was a tear.

"Yes," Ichika replied bluntly.

For a moment, Chifuyu froze like paralyzed, as tears already were swelling in both of her eyes. She was hardened warrior, sharp as blade and strong as demon, and there's almost impossible to get under her skin. But when person she dotes on, her own brother slings dirt at her… even Chifuyu could break… But the next moment Ichika pulled her to himself and embraced, as tight as he could. And as Chifuyu now was completely flabbergasted, Ichika finally decided to explain what exactly he meant. "I know things I just said were horribly unjust, and believe me, saying them was just as painful as for you to hear them… but please, stay with me like that and listen what I have to say…" He made a deep breath.

"Since we were left together, you were horrible with social stuff. People were afraid of you… even I… But I knew the reasons, and I never blamed you, in particular because, no matter what, you were always honest with me. But something did change since you returned from Deutschland… you began to… hide yourself from me, so to say…" Ichika explained, still holding his sister in tight embrace… and she didn't try to break free, because, sadly, she began to understand what he means. "From aside it seemed like you began to wear some sort of mask…"

Indeed, when Chifuyu returned from Germany, she didn't meet her small brother as she expected. She met a man, may be a very young one (13 years old), but there's no way she actually could call him a kid. Student Council President, football team's captain, best pupil in school, winner of numerous contests, both sporting and scientific… It seemed that he's actually doing just fine without her. That was when she decided that he no longer needs strict but close and very caring sister… But she simply couldn't stop caring about Ichika, as entire meaning of her life, or at least the most part of it, was caring about her brother. So she put on that mask, begin to hide here warm feelings toward her only dear person in the world, honestly thinking that this is the right thing to do.

Ichika released Chifuyu from his embrace and turned towards window. "Chifuyu," He called his sister by her name, instead of using '(o)nee-something' which meant that now will be that very rare occasion when he's going to speak from the bottom of his heart. "I'm sick tired of that mask of yours. I always was in need of you, and always will be. And not because you're probably the only woman around me that I don't want to strangle the moment I see her… but because in this world – you're the only person I can trust…"

Chifuyu understand what he meant. She really did, and she wanted to say something in return, but she couldn't, because of these damned tears that simply didn't want to cease… She was experiencing too many emotions at the same time – happiness, because Ichika still needs her, loves her and cares about her. Sadness, because, seemingly, during last two years she was doing wrong a lot of things in her relationships with Ichika. And of course she was angry at him for his choice of method to explain all that. "You're moron…" She whimpered finally, "Couldn't you explain that normally?!"

"If I could, I would," Ichika replied as if it was obvious, "But as I told you, I had to bring you to tears…"

*PAM!* Chifuyu gave her brother a sonorous slap, in quite famine way, and this time he didn't try to block or dodge as she need to release her emotions that way or she just won't stop crying. "Idiot!" She exclaimed angrily, but tears finally stopped flowing, Chifuyu wiped out the last of them, though her eyes still were quite red.

"I'm really sorry, believe me…" Ichika sighed. "Now, since we done with that, can we talk about my 'would be bodyguard' aka Hetare Mutsugō?" He asked.

*SIGH* Deepness of Chifuyu's sigh reached the planet's core… but that simply can't be helped. He is just as he is… and she loves him just as he is, no matter what.

"So, it is about Phantom Task?" Ichika asked. "I heard that their activity increased during last few months, in particular about their attempts to steal I.S. units from various countries, some of which were successful…" Was Chifuyu surprised to learn that Ichika knows about that? Yes, she was, though she couldn't show it – she already almost ran out of emotions. Besides, probably being surprised about that is actually quite naïve, his military rank is equal to lieutenant-colonel, after all… "This is why you've asked Sarashiki? Not just because she's a quite good pilot (she easily won over all her opponents during interclass tournament in May) but also because Sarashiki clan was a sworn enemy of Phantom Task for generations?"

As it already has been told – Chifuyu was too emotionally exhausted to be surprised, but still, _'How the hell you know about all that!?'_ She thought. _'Could it be that Sarashiki herself has told him about her own family? Why on earth?'_

In the meantime, Ichika continued to expatiate, "And you think that **Demon Queen** may become their next target? Che…" Ichika snorted. "Honestly, if someone from academy stuff would say that I need someone else to protect me – here's several intimate directions in which I'd advised them to go. Phantom Task wants **Naamah**? Let them come then, I'll gladly pulverize those fools."

"However…" He turned to his sister, "If onee-chan will sleep better at night, knowing that I have an extra pair of guns or swords or whatever on my side – I'd agree, just let me be the first one to know about that, alright?"

*SIGH* This time deepness of Chifuyu's sigh pierced the planet through. Ichika cornered her, if she won't be frank with him after all he did and said – she herself would look like a kid… She looked straight into brother's eyes, "Yes, when I heard that JSDF gave you access to their old test site, I really didn't like the idea about you being alone in the middle of nowhere… but that's not the only reason."

"Really?" Ichika wondered.

"Really," Chifuyu snorted, "And you'd understand that yourself if you thought about others a bit more often than never. Attacking you on test site is quite convenient opportunity, but that doesn't exclude the possibility that they can try to attack you within academy walls. If Phantom Task attack you, no doubts – the _Archangel_ will wake up once again. What will happen then?" Chifuyu wondered. Ichika remained silent, actually, sister's argument was quite convincing. "In that case you and your I.S. – you will sunder half of the Academy. That is the main reason why I chose Sarashiki, you know about her I.S., do you?"

"Of course," Ichika replied, " **Московский Густой Туман** , designed in Russia 3rd generation anti-terrorist I.S., specifically developed for battles inside buildings… Ah…" [I.S. name means 'Moscow's Dense Fog']

"Bravo!" Chifuyu replied sarcastically, "You got it. Now if that's all you wanted to discuss, I'm going to sleep," She said and headed towards stairs.

But before she reached stairs she once again was embraced from behind as Ichika silently whispered on her ear, "Sweet dreams, onee-chan…"

Chifuyu sighed, but her face expression was actually slightly happy. "By the way, don't go back to Academy, sleep here," She said as Ichika released her and she continued her way upstairs.

"Of course," Ichika bowed slightly, "Just give me five minutes, I'll get room back in order." The drawing room seemed a bit ruffled.

As Chifuyu locked her room's door behind herself, sat on bed and began to put off her clothes, she sighed again. She felt herself completely exhausted mentally… but at the same time she was feeling some tranquility in her soul and lightness in her heart. "I must've been really horrible person in my previous life to deserve brother like him in this one…" She thought aloud as she threw her bra and panties on bedside table "…but I never wanted, and never want any other." That was last thought in her head and Chifuyu fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.

* * *

And this is it! See you soon people, don't forget to write a **review**!


	14. Before the Storm

Hello again people! Here's new chapter for my story.

Sorry to admit it, but I'm afraid it's just another filler, so to say. I got sick, so this is all I could do by now. Anyway, it's here. Next chapter will be better – time for blood.

Now, for those who wrote a **review** :

 **Imperial-samaB, FateBurn, DarkBladerZX, Eurigos, skyblade132, Alex2909** : Many thanks people. In next chapter we'll learn about another similarity between Orimura siblings…

 **rajdiangelo:** Very soon

 **alvatorez:** Yes, plain and simple. "Inc'est la vie…"

 **Sajuuk:** Ichika's I.N. has completely different paradigm, so to say, so I can't see why Ichika may want Tatenashi's I.S. blueprints, but of course – tech will be updated. Just wait…

 **InTheYearOfTheCat:** Relax man, really. I can't reintroduce Natasha just out of blue.

 **meirmamuka:** I know, no one likes fillers much, but it's just not possible without them, or story will just collapse.

 **Guest:** When to expect sex scene? I'd say chapter… XVI or XVII, not later.

Now, let's proceed to chapter.

* * *

 **Chapter XIV – Before the Storm**

…

September, 6th. 8:03 A.M.

"…so this is all your fault!" Chifuyu exclaimed angrily, pointing at her younger brother.

"And this is your gratitude for that I flew through entire city to wake you up?" Ichika replied with narrowed eyes.

"Ichika…" Chifuyu growled threateningly.

"Listen, blaming me won't get you anywhere," Ichika sighed. "You have enough time, go take shower quickly and I'll bring you to the Academy just in time."

"You want to use your I.S. to carry me to the Academy?!" Chifuyu shouted, that definitely seemed improper from her point of view. Actually, as special JSDF commander Ichika have rights to deploy his unit at will in case of necessity, but seemingly Chifuyu couldn't agree that this is one of those necessities.

"Either that or you will be late for your own HRS, for the first time in your life, if I remember correctly," Ichika noted. "Of course, everything happens for the first time…"

"Alright, shut up! I'm going!" Chifuyu finally agreed as she jumped from bed.

"And put this on, for God's sake!" Ichika threw her a bath towel. Since the moment she woke up, while they were arguing, Chifuyu was completely nude (as it was said – she can't sleep normally when she's dressed). Actually, they never were shy of each other, but at these time things really went overboard. "This is just nonsense…" Ichika sighed as he leaned on the wall, when Chifuyu locked bathroom's door behind herself.

* * *

Events of this morning were like this:

Ichika woke up about an hour ago. He took shower and went to I.S. Academy, he wanted to come early, there were some questions he wanted to discuss with Orimura-sensei (purely 'Home Room teacher – class 1-1 representative' business, so he didn't want to talk about that at home). But when he arrived, he didn't find Chifuyu in stuff room, and, moreover, no one could say where she actually is – no one saw her this morning. Usually it wouldn't be anything special – she could be busy with something specific… but for some reason, even Ichika himself couldn't tell why, he got suspicious. He deployed his I.N. and returned home like a whirlwind, only to find his elder sister peacefully sleeping in her bed.

Seemingly, due to their yesterday's 'clarification of relationships', she was completely out of thoughts, so she even forgot to set up alarm clock (though, usually she wakes up on time without any alarm clock). When he was at home, Ichika didn't think that his sister could oversleep, so he didn't check her room before departing, she was sleeping so quietly and peacefully that even Ichika didn't feel her presence, either. And when Ichika woke her up, aforementioned 'dialog' happened…

* * *

When Chifuyu came out of bathroom, there were fresh set of clothes waiting for her. By the way, those was brand-new early-autumn clothes, handpicked by Ichika – it was his birthday present for Chifuyu, which was a bit more than one month ago (27th July). Anthony Vaccarello patchwork mohair & wool playsuit jacket, Marni embellished button mini skirt and Givenchy open-toe ankle boots… total cost was about… 5000$... But Chifuyu hit 25, it was her first real anniversary, so who'd spare money for event like that?

As Chifuyu dressed up, Ichika urged her to get outdoor. "Stop urging me!" She complained, she even couldn't completely dry her luxury hair… but since there were only eight minutes left, Ichika simply ignored her complains. He quickly deployed his I.N., picked up his sister, and soared into the air. He was carrying her bride-style, since actually it's most convenient way to carry a woman, but… Chifuyu was feeling herself somehow weird for unknown reason. Not because it was not right… but because she was enjoying it, to be honest. Was it because it was also her first time being carried like that?

Anyway, thanks to all that machinations, she was standing in front of her classroom's door two minutes prior to HRS beginning time.

* * *

September, 6th. 8:38 A.M.

Ichika entered the classroom as soon as he arrived. Two minutes later bell rang, announcing the beginning of HRS, and Chifuyu entered the class as well. And class immediately went silent, but seemingly not just because teacher has arrived, as even Maya Yamada stood silent, instead of saying hello to Home Room teacher.

"Good morning," She greeted her class as usual, but when she didn't hear 'good morning, Orimura-sensei' in reply, Chifuyu sighed and asked, "What's wrong this time?" Addressing mostly her assistant.

"Ah… well… I-It's nothing…" Maya replied, stuttering. "It's just… well… today you're looking… astounding…"

As confirmation, many girls in class began to nod their heads, squealing in delight:

"That's right, that's right!"

"Onee-sama looks great!"

"Your clothes seem wonderful!"

Chifuyu looked down at her own outfit. No, despite some lack of social skills, she was still a woman and she knew that these clothes fit her well and they're quite stylish, but… that much, really? She glanced at Ichika, and he winked in reply. *Sigh* She sighed again. No, as a woman, born under sign of lion, she likes to be praised, no matter what she pretends… but not during classes.

*Clap!* She clapped her hands, gaining attention. "That's enough! Bell already rang, pay attention!" She ordered.

"Yes, sensei!" All girls responded as one. That's what leadership is…

* * *

HRS ended and Chifuyu immediately left the classroom. Since today were no I.S. related lessons planned, Ichika was intending to do the same, he was going to make some adjustments to his I.N., after which he was intending to go to already mentioned JSDF test site. But on his way out, Ichika heard two girls talking.

"…so I'd like to try something like that…"

"Don't bother, you won't be looking that great anyway…"

"I won't know if I won't try! If only I'd knew where onee-sama got those…"

"Then… maybe you should just ask…?"

"Y-Yes… I'll try… It's nothing bad in asking, right?"

No doubts they were discussing Chifuyu's new wardrobe. Ichika sighed, "'The Row' store, 8440 Melrose Place, Los Angeles, California," He said.

Both girls turned to him and looked with slightly widened eyes. "Orimura-sensei… got those clothes… there?!" California was pretty far from I.S. Academy, to say the least.

"No, this is where _I_ got them," Ichika clarified, "Though, I've heard that they have a partner store somewhere in Osaka…" He added and left the classroom, as those girls were looking at him with saucer-wide eyes.

* * *

September, 6th. 4:02 P.M.

All preparations have been done, and now Ichika was ready to depart to test site. However, since he promised his sister to not go there alone, he was intending to ask one of his fangirls to go with him (since it was far away from populated areas, it was not necessary to take Tatenashi namely). Who it will be – Ichika was intending to let them decide by themselves. However… _'Oh, come on…'_ He thought in annoyance as he noticed aforementioned annoying girl sitting on the tree branch just ahead of him. She was hiding her careless smile with her fan.

"Ichika-san…" Expectedly, he heard teasing voice from that direction.

"What?" Ichika sighed.

"Well, no need to sigh that heavily," Tatenashi said with resentful voice as she jumped down from the tree, "You disappeared so abruptly yesterday so we couldn't finish our talking."

Actually, she couldn't understand how Ichika just vanished. Since he used **Realizer** on her, her memories were changed. In her memories – just when she dealt with girl from boxing club, Ichika disappeared. She tried to look for him in rooms nearby, including small service room (where Ichika actually was interrogating her), but couldn't find him.

"Sarashiki, I don't have time a for this. That's just a clownery, and I have absolutely no desire to join in," He replied.

"You caused that, you know?" She said with her usual careless smile.

"What?" Ichika asked skeptically.

"Hmm? Well, since I put you as the prize of this month's school anniversary, the sports club that won't be able to get first like the fighting type clubs can only use force. They want me to step down, cancel the rules of the prize and get you at the same time." Of course, these were just some wild guesses, but most likely they were right ones.

Ichika remained silent. Telling her that it actually was her own idiotic idea was useless, she's not that foolish to not understand that. She just wanted to tease Ichika, and of course 'ignore' was the least desirable reply for her… and that's why she got just that.

But she definitely ain't going to give up, "Then, I would like you to come over to the Student Council office for a visit. Please come along. There's tea for you to drink."

"A tea?" Those skeptical notes in Ichika's voice didn't go anywhere.

"So I take it as you want to go?" Tatenashi asked as she already grabbed Ichika's right arm and started to pull him somewhere.

Ichika didn't want to admit that but actually her boldness was somehow attractive. "Alright," He finally gave up, seemingly he won't be able to rid of her easily – he has to go with her… or use **Realizer** once again, but that's only the last resort.

"Mn, very good, this onee-san likes to see Orimura Ichika-san being so honest," She smiled.

But as she said that Ichika stopped and looked at Sarashiki with his signature much-colder-than-ice gaze. "Don't call yourself like that [onee-san], I have only one," He demanded.

For a moment, Tatenashi's smile paled a little, but she adapted quickly. "Okay, okay, I got it! I never meant to take Orimura-sensei's place! Let's go!" Ichika mentally facepalmed but allowed her to continue to pull him… wherever they were going.

* * *

As they approached to big door with tablet 'Student Council', Ichika was able to hear two girls talking behind that door.

"...How long are you going to remain blank over there?"

"I'm so sleepy... it's so… late already..."

"Do your work."

"Got it..."

One of those voices was well too familiar – it belongs to Ichika's classmate – Nohotoke Honne aka Nohohon, ever sleepy girl who wears academy's uniform with way too long sleeves.

"Hmm? What's wrong?" Tatenashi wondered.

"No, nothing, I've just heard familiar voice..." Ichika pointed at door.

"Ah, that's right. She should be inside now," After saying that, Tatenashi opened the door. The heavy door was pushed aside without any noise, and it seems to be a rather good door. "I'm back!" She announced to those who were inside.

"Welcome back, Prez," The one who welcomed Tatenashi back was a third year girl (she's wearing a red tie). This girl with glasses and braided hair. She looked like a 'resolute yet efficient' person as she held the files with one hand in a manner that suited her.

The girl who was standing behind her expectedly was… "Wa... it's Orimu…" Yep, it's Nohohon…

"Mn, please sit over there. Tea will be served soon," Third year girl said. She wasn't personal I.S. pilot, so Ichika didn't know her, though he noticed some resemblance between her and Honne's faces.

Honne looked like she's six times more sleepy than usual. Though her face went up by about 3cm when she noticed Ichika, it immediately sank back onto the table.

"We're now facing the guest. Pull yourself through," Third year girl ordered.

"I, can't, do, that... I'm, sleepy. Can, I... go, back, now...?" With her last ounce of hope, Honne asked the question word by word.

But the third year's merciless answer crushed her completely, "Nope."

Tatenashi Sarashiki, who became President in only her second year, let the third year sempai deal with the brewing of the tea as she raised her arms elegantly and sat down on her seat.

"We haven't met before," Third year girl addressed Ichika. "Allow me to introduce myself then, my name's Nohotoke Utsuho. I'm Honne's elder sister."

"Hmm? So you two sisters joined the Student Council?" Ichika wondered, "Just like that?"

"Yup. The Student Council President has to be the strongest, but the other members can join as long as it doesn't reach the maximum capacity, so I recruited those who grew up with me," Tatenashi explained to Ichika.

 _'So, she thinks that growing up together is sufficient excuse for favoritism?'_ Ichika remembered that Honne once said that 'We served as maids for generations'. Well, it's not surprising – Sarashiki clan is noble, and they were noble long before WWII. But still, it's not good enough reason to just bring someone into student council, not in Ichika's opinion.

"Besides, it's my duty to serve ojō-sama," Utsuho said that as she poured the tea that was just brewed, into the cup. She looked rather refined when she did that, and she gave off the vibe of a secretary or a head maid.

"An, don't call me ojō-sama," Tatenasi asked.

"Sorry, I just said it out of habit," Utsuho replied, "Orimura-san, please have some tea."

Ichika took the cup and looked at three girls, "So, here's only three of you? Well, that's explains a lot…" Ichika noted to himself, without even trying of being polite.

"Oh, is it possible that Orimura-san somehow dissatisfied with Student Council's performance?" Utsuho wondered politely but strictly.

"Dissatisfied?" Ichika asked again, "Not at all, from my point of view it is as if Student Council ain't exists at all, so it's quite hard to be dissatisfied with something I didn't notice…" He replied bluntly.

*PAM!* Nohohon stood up, and for the first time, Ichika saw her shouting loudly, "How mean~! After all those efforts I put into my job!"

"No, 'mean' was proclaiming me to be a prize for idiotic competition without even asking for my opinion. As for your efforts – since I don't see any results – all your efforts are in vain," Ichika's voice and words were merciless, as well as his eyes. "Besides, me being mean ain't a big secret. Now, if you're excuse me, I have to go…"

"Wait, Orimura-san, we're not done yet," Sarashiki said as she stood up. She was still smiling, but her eyes were bold and voice sounded serious.

Ichika turned to her, and his smile was nothing like Tatenashi – such a smile could freeze the flames of hell… "You still think that you're in position to tell me what I can do?" He asked. "It seems you're really thinking that you're strong? Very well then, let's have a match. I'll listen to you if you manage to defeat me."

"Hmm, okay," That smile on her face showed the words _'You fell into my trap'_.

Ichika's smile was showing words _'I'll change your childish worldview'_.

* * *

"And that's it? Martial arts?" Ichika asked. He actually thought that she's going to challenge him to I.S. battle.

"Orimura-san isn't allowed to use Academy's arenas, but don't worry – that will do just nicely," Tatenashi replied with her usual smile.

Sarashiki and Ichika were facing each other on the tatami dojo, behind main academy building. Right now, they're look like martial artists from ancient Japan who had been wearing the white torso guard and the navy blue hakama. There's only Tatenashi and Ichika in the dojo. The Nohotoke sisters seemed like they had work to do.

"Okay, as for the winning conditions, you win if you can make me fall onto the ground," Sarashiki announced, "But on the other hand, I win if you can't continue to fight. Will that do?"

"Nope," Ichika replied. "If match will be stopped as soon as you'll fall – you won't learn anything. I want to show you the deepness of the abyss between us. By the way, you may use whatever skill you like – only one condition – deploying your I.S., even partial, is strictly prohibited."

"Of course," She nodded, seemingly agreeing to condition about I.S., "But don't you think you're too arrogant?" The smile didn't vanish from Tatenashi's face at all, and the casual expression made her all the more insolent.

"We'll see," Ichika said as he dashed towards Tatenashi. He wasn't using any techniques, seemingly he just was intending to hit her in the face. There's no way Sarashiki could miss such a simple attack. She stepped forward, intending to grab Ichika's arm and throw him over herself – that was a sure-win counter, but… suddenly, Ichika's fist just passed through her hands, literally, when she tried to clench his fist. Tatenashi was completely confused, but she couldn't stop her move at that moment, she turned around, and much further than intended, because she had no weight to pull. And at that moment, being confused and disoriented, she received powerful leg kick to her but, which made her to roll head over heels for several meters.

"See?" Ichika asked, "That's why I didn't agree to your condition. If I'd agree, we would already have been done here…"

Tatenashi was lying on tatami, staring into dojo's ceiling, trying to comprehend what just happened. She clearly saw Ichika's swing, precisely calculated her move… and grabbed thin air?! _'What was that?! Have I gone blind?!'_

"Hey, how long are you intending to lay there, Hetare Mutsugō?" Ichika urged her to stand up, "That was only one of those things I wanted to teach you… there are more… so many more…"

Sarashiki jumped on her feet. "Not bad!" She exclaimed, she wasn't startled by 'nickname' Ichika gave her. "But not a chance I'll just give up! I'm going over!" She didn't understand what happened, but right now wasn't the time to think about that, and of course she had no intentions of giving up.

She suddenly closed in on Ichika quickly. The way she slid on the floor was perfect. Actually, that was one of the secret ancient techniques, 'No Rhythm'

To put it simply, humans live through 'rhythm'. Besides the heartbeat, there's the breathing rhythm, so for example, the so-called 'Matching presence' is a positive show of this. In contrast, a 'non-matching presence' would be the opposite.

An attack that deliberately messes with the rhythm of the opponent is called a 'Striking Rhythm', and one that controls is called the 'Equal Rhythm'.

And the move of the highest class causes people to be unable to feel the rhythm. The martial art move that uses the undetectable rhythm is called 'No Rhythm'.

"Not bad," Ichika nodded. That was really nice move.

Tatenashi raised her arms, intending to make several hits in rapid succession, but… her first attack literally passed through Ichika. Not meeting an obstacle, Tatenashi was dragged ahead by inertia and received a crashing blow by Ichika's elbow, right into back of her head. Force of the blow sent her forth and she crashed into dojo's wall.

"And that would be lesson number two," Ichika said as shocked Tatenashi was still kissing the wall. "We've agreed to not deploy I.S., but I said you can use any other skill, such as technologies that doesn't relate to I.S. directly, like **phase shift technology** , which I just used on my own body…" **Phase shift** is a bit simplified variation of **quantum transfer technology** that all I.S. are using.

Sarashiki finally managed to unstuck herself from the wall. She turned to Ichika – her smile was long gone, she seemed deeply shocked… and she got a nosebleed. Ichika could easily read her thoughts in her eyes, _'People can't use any sort of quantum transfer on themselves!'_

"Don't be so surprised, many limitations that humans have doesn't applies to me," Ichika noted, "Because, naturally, people don't have those limitations, they just think they do… Anyway, if you still don't want to give up, then c'mon, show me your finishing move and let's be done with this," Ichika taunted her. "This time – no tricks, I promise, only physical skills…" Seemingly, blood on Tatenashi's face cooled down Ichika's desire to 'teach her a lesson' as now it seemed just like beating of a young girl…

Tatenashi wiped blood of her face. She's a real fighter, no doubts. She took two deep breaths, preparing for attack and then she dashed forward like a wind. Her moves were beautiful – light, fast and precise. That was a 'Capoeira' style – a martial art and dance form that originated among Brazilian slaves (descendants of native Africans). Good suited to use against an opponent who is taller and heavier. She spun around, trying to land a quick low kick. Naturally, avoiding such an attack is nearly impossible… but Ichika foresaw it, so instead of stepping back or aside, he stepped forward. Then jumped over her, provoking her to try to hit him with her right arm. Then Ichika quickly moved back and then aside, naturally appearing behind her.

And then he placed both his hands on her shoulders and slightly pressed her down. Because she was trying to hit Ichika just before that, her position was naturally shaky, so even with that small force, Ichika forced her on her knees. Then Ichika used his own right knee to press her knees to the floor, to not let her stand up and regain balance. And pressing her legs to the floor, Ichika pushed her forth, forcing on all four. "Now, stay a while in this pose of a worshiper, and learn humility…" As he said that, Ichika stood up, releasing her.

"I see…" Ichika heard Tatenashi's voice, he wasn't looking at her but thanks to his field of view he still was able to see her. "I lost!" She announced, as she turned to Ichika, still standing an all four, but she was smiling again. "I've been defeated, thoroughly and completely," She said, her voice sounded as carelessly as before. Seemingly she accepted her defeat with dignity, but that's to be expected of eldest scion of Sarashiki clan. She raised on knees, and reached out her arm, seemingly asking Ichika to help her to stand up.

"You don't have any need to borrow an impudence, I give you that," Ichika sighed as he took Tatenashi's hand and helped her to stand up.

"I have to admit, you surprised me," She said. Girl was still smiling, but her tone was pretty serious. "When Orimura-sensei warned me: _'Do not provoke him and don't succumb to his provocations, or there will be bad 'consequences'_ I thought that she exaggerated…"

"Chifuyu onee-san always says truth," Ichika cut Tatenashi off. "Now, since I won, you're owe me a few favors now, don't you think?"

"I'm listening," Sarashiki said, still smiling.

"See those black scorpions?" Ichika pointed at big black arachnids, one at floor level, one at the middle of the opposite wall, and one on ceiling on the right, "They are actually mobile platforms with cameras, and they recorded our match from three different views – enough to create 3D holographic image, just in case. I am, however, have no desire to show it to anyone as I want you to retain position of Student Council President," Ichika informed.

"Orimura-sensei's request?" Tatenashi asked cunningly.

"Nice guess," Ichika replied quite indifferently. "She was afraid that you may not listen to her, which, in the end, may turn out as me becoming Student Council President, and if I'd became one I would tried to turn this school into something like **Honnouji Academy** [Reference to ' _Kill La Kill_ ']… Probably it was careless of me to mention that I want to disband all non-combat related clubs in academy… Nevertheless, I have no desire to waste my time on President's duty in the first place, being class representative is already bothersome enough."

"Alright," Tatenashi agreed without conditions. "And I guess you want me to denounce that 'prize' I promised to this year's school anniversary contest winner?" She asked as her smile waned a bit.

"Not at all," Ichika waved her off. "It would raise too many questions. Besides, if that 'prize' will make those tenderlings more active – let them go for it, let's see what they're truly capable off. And don't worry about me, despite that I have no desire to clear the mess made by other people, I'll make an exception in this case - I'll handle this isuue myself," Ichika smiled as his eyes flashed with scarlet light. "Now, pull yourself together and go rest, I'll need you at the morning."

"Hmm?" Tatenashi looked at him questioningly.

"Actually, I wanted to do it today, but you wasted to much of my time, so today I'm going to make few other adjustments, but tomorrow after classes we're going to JSDF test site, you and I, as I have a lot of testing to be completed. Until the end of this weekend you're my assistant – that's my last request as of a winner," Ichika explained. "Initially I wanted to ask one of my classmates or Rin to accompany me, but since you're already here…"

"Ah! Ichika-sama chose me among all other girls!" Again that careless but cunning smile appeared on Sarashiki's face. Ichika sighed. This girl also can twist words, not as much as Ichika himself, but still.

* * *

September, 9th. 8:35 A.M.

"Ichika-sa…a…a…ama…" Tatenashi couldn't suppress a yawn, "Why are we so early here? Today's Saturday…" Last two days Ichika haven't call for Tatenashi, but today he dragged her here at the early morning.

"Stop complaining," Ichika waved her off, "Earlier we'll start – earlier we'll be done with it. Now just stay away from directrix and watch your radar," Ichika said. That's exactly what Tatenashi's duties are for today – monitor the surrounding airspace with her I.S. sensors, because **Demon Queen** 's sensors now were all calibrated to evaluate test firing results.

"Ichika-sama's so purposeful…" She smiled again, though with her sleepy eyes her smile didn't seem so enchanting and mysterious as usual. Of course, despite her defeat at Ichika's hands – by common measures she was an exceptional fighter, and she no doubts trains a lot… but, seemingly, she didn't get used to wake up at 7 AM during weekends… "Alright, radar set to DEW mode [Distant Early Warning], airspace is clear," Sarashiki reported.

"Okay, let's proceed then," Ichika said as his plasma weapon appeared in his right hand. Since first week after summer holydays was almost completely devoted to I.S. practical lessons (so students could remember their skills), and since Ichika wasn't allowed to those lessons due to his I.N. excessive destructiveness, he had a lot of time to tinker… as well as he still had a lot of things to do.

As he was already done with implementing 3rd generation plasma technology into all of his plasma weapon's shapes, he now has to revise its tactical parameters. For instance, he had to redesign that weapon's frame(s). The reason for that was simple – Ichika was a lefthander, and all shapes of plasma weapon were designed accordingly. But now his left arm was occupied with **Hand of Eisheth** , and since it was **Second Shift** equipment, made by his I.N. herself, remaking it for use with right arm was both troublesome and impractical. Remaking plasma weapon, made by his own hands, was much easier.

And, first of all, Ichika… gave new name to that weapon. In his opinion, name **'Ragnarök'** was no longer fitting his new unit name and overall paradigm. The new name he gave to his weapon – **'Sitra Ahra'**.

The new weapon appeared in Ichika's right arm. In its inactive state it looked like massive, Zweihänder-like sword with waved blade. However, the blade itself looked unproportionally thin, comparing to pretty massive hilt, decorated with scales, as guard looked like two-headed dragon. Besides, blade had no edges, featuring pretty broad, flat surfaces instead.

" **Invidia** ," Ichika pronounced only one word. And seemingly, that was the designation of **Sitra Ahra** 's first shape, as those flat surfaces on blade's sides opened, revealing sword's true form – 90 inches long, Zweihänder-like two-handed sword with waved, double-edged blade, with both edges made of the same **Fold-Out Armor** type as all **Demon Queen** 's wings.

Unlike Ichika's previous sword – **Redeemer** , which blade was made purely of plasma and had straight form (basically it was a plasma torch, with minimal use of **FOA** ) – **Invidia** 's blade was curved with waves-like pattern, like a real Zweihänder would be. Since about 70% of blade was made of **FOA** , both edges were like burning with dark violet flame. Blades' very edges were glowing brightly, as it was an actual plasma layer, which is emitted from between **FOA** layers. Ichika made several swings with his sword.

"Damn, still not good enough…" He sighed. No, it wasn't about sword – hilt was fitting his right arm perfectly, blade's technical parameters weren't affected by hilt's physical configuration change, and sword as a whole was a masterpiece, no matter how you look at it… Ichika was talking about his skill to control his right hand. During this summer, he's done a huge amount of engineering work, but that left him with too little time to train his right arm… but that wasn't the reason he came here today, anyway.

" **Avaritia** ," Ichika said another word, and weapon in his right hand immediately changed shape, turning into double-barreled, rapid-firing scattergun. Yep, that was it – triple-barreled shotgun **Arbiter** and twin assault rifles **Anguish** and **Despair** – they were no more…

Now, with **Hand of Eisheth** at his disposal, Ichika no longer needed two rifles – in particle cannon mode **Hand of Eisheth** could change its rate of fire from 30 to 900 shots per minute (and particle bolts power changes accordingly), so he simply no longer needed assault rifle for his left hand, and using only one rifle – well, it's just a waste.

On the other hand, with vast amount of energy and four available bus-slots, using **Arbiter** as it was, it also would be just a waste. So Ichika asked himself – why not combine them? In the end he created this – **Avaritia**. Weapon was big and quite heavy, besides, unlike with the machinegun, here Ichika tried different concept. Machinegun has five barrels but only one EM-accelerator with arbitrary magnetic field vector position. This scattergun, in contrary, was actually almost two weapons in one frame, as it has one plasma generation chamber but two separate, 3rd generation electromagnetic compressors-accelerators with central magnetic field vector, and two charge splitters.

 **Avaritia** has rate of fire about 400 shots per minute, per each barrel, making it 800 shots per minute in total, and each barrel shoots 12 plasma bolts at one go, so it makes 9600 plasma bolts per minute, or 160 per second. And, despite each individual plasma bolt isn't too powerful (relatively, 40 points of damage to I.S. type shield with direct hit, using support from I.S. plasma banks), considering that insane amount of bolts – **Avaritia** is a devastating weapon. Only little disadvantage is bolts' speed – about 430 meters per second (about 1.4 Mach), making it mid-range weapon, but that's the idea of scattergun.

"Let's try it," Ichika said, as he turned towards big rock nearby. Several holographic targets appeared on the rock, and Ichika opened fire.

* * *

"Report," Ichika asked his I.N.

"All parameters seem normal, no changes detected," **Naamah** reported. As before, weapons characteristics weren't affected with external design changes.

"What about spread factor?" Ichika asked.

"Still exceeds desirable value," A.I. reported, "7% of bolts hit outside of nominal circle borders."

"Damn… too bad…" Ichika sighed, "And I can't move charge splitters further… I guess there's no choice but to increase barrels' length…"

* * *

In the meantime, while Ichika was talking to his I.N. and thinking aloud, Tatenashi had other things on her mind. As they say – it's better to see once than hear hundred times. Since Ichika wasn't participating in practical lessons – there were no records of his fights and, thus, no records of **Demon Queen** in action. But now she saw his weapon in action by herself, from close range…

She was no longer smiling, she now looked as if she just lapsed into idiocy. _'No surprise Orimura-sensei asked me to not let enemy engage Ichika on school's territory! This… thing can take our entire Academy asunder!'_

The rock that Ichika used for plasma bolts damage evaluation – it was comparable in size to one arena and few substructures combined, and now it was completely gone, melted down! _'And all this without using that thing on his left hand…'_

* * *

While Tatenashi was trying to imagine possible collateral damage that Ichika's I.N. may do, Ichika's weapon again changed shape, turning into sniper rifle. Its new name was **Superbia**. However, unlike previous weapon, Ichika didn't do any significant adjustments to it during this week, only things that he changed were its name and back side of gun-stock, no way weapon's parameters could be affected by such a changes, he summoned it just in case, with no intention to use.

" **Luxuria** ," Ichika called for next shape and heavy plasma machinegun appeared in his hand. Again, Ichika only changed its external design, it now was mounted under his right arm, attached to lower side of his elbow, so Ichika could use it with one hand. Nothing else had been changed, so there was nothing to test. And then…

" **Ira** ," Ichika called for his weapon's fifth shape… Big cannon appeared mounted beneath Ichika's right arm. It had very long barrel, which was almost completely made of **Fold Out Armor** , aside from eight thin metallic guide casings along the barrel. Not one but four coils could be seen inside cannon, which were connected directly to abnormally long plasma generation chamber, without intermediate ejector. At the end of the barrel was emitter of conical form, which serves as beam focuser.

Ichika turned to another big rock on the left and pointed his weapon at it. "Preparing to fire," He announced, mostly to Tatenashi so she could prepare herself in case if something will go wrong, as **Naamah** already was in stand-by mode to write telemetric information. "Firing!" Ichika pulled the trigger and his cannon shot a bright, violet plasma beam. Continuous explosion at the point of impact literally burned through hole in targeted rock. Unlike other Ichika's weaponry, that shoots bolts of plasma, **Ira** was a beam plasma cannon, capable of firing continuous plasma beam. However…

After about 1.8 seconds since the moment Ichika pulled the trigger, beam disappeared. "Automatic attack cancelation according to safety protocol," **Naamah** reported.

"Damn…" Ichika swore, "How long this time?"

"1.826(9) seconds until outlet emitter reached its critical temperature," A.I. reported.

"Only about 0.27 seconds longer…" Ichika sighed. "Okay, it seems passive cooing isn't an option… All right, here's no choice then, I have to develop an active heat sink of some sort, it might take some time…"

"Ichika-sama, what was that?!" Tatenashi asked, she even flew closer to Ichika to take a better look at his weapon.

"Hmm? You've just seen it yourself, ain't you?" He replied. "This is beam plasma cannon, weapon designed to destroy heavily fortified objects. It won't be of much use in I.S. vs I.S. battle, activation sequence is too long for that… of course if your enemy isn't an idiot who'd float on one place, awaiting annihilation… But if you need to destroy bunker, which is hidden deep within the mountain, this is just the thing you need," Ichika explained. "However, it's not ready for use yet…" He added, sighing. "Anyway, we're done for today, c'mon, let's go back to the academy…"

On a side note – the remaining two 'sins' were assigned for plasma grenades ( **Gula** ) and multi-mode plasma mines ( **Acedia** ).

As they were flying back, Tatenashi was under deep impression. _'He's not just brilliant engineer whose worldview's on completely different level…'_ Sarashiki was experienced enough to also understand another thing, _'He's also knows exactly what and why he's doing with his damned toys, as if he's holding hundreds of possible tactical situations in his mind.'_ And she didn't want to think about that, but she just couldn't rid of that thought, _'It's good that he's on our side, but… is it always will be like that?...'_

* * *

September, 9th. 10:55 P.M.

"Oh my," Nohotoke Utsuho bowed to Ichika slightly, "You're still awake, Ichika-sama?"

"As you can see," Ichika greeted her back, "Good evening, Nohotoke-san."

"Oh, please, just call me Utsuho. Since there's two Nohotokes, it'll be unclear who you're calling if you use that family name, right?" She asked politely.

 _'Strange… as if I've already heard something like that somewhere… ah, whatever,'_ Ichika thought before responding. "Very well then, I'll call you Utsuho-san. By the way, you may call me by my first name as well, if you like."

"Alright, Ichika-sama," Utsuho nodded her head. Aside from some common face features, she's different from her younger sister Honne in many ways. Just as Ichika was intending to continue his way, Utsuho suddenly asked him, "Sorry, Ichika-sama, but can I ask a question?"

Ichika looked at her with evaluating sight, then replied, "If I can answer it, sure."

"Well, how should I ask that… What's your opinion about Tatenashi ojō-sama?" Utsuho asked pretty straight question. A bit unexpected question from someone who was like a maid for Tatenashi, but Ichika didn't seem surprised.

"Well, probably I can say that I'm interested in her," Ichika replied, but as soon as he noticed Utsuho's surprised face he decided to clarify. "Don't get me wrong, picking up my interest isn't an easy task, for now I'm only interested in her as in eldest scion of her generation of Sarashiki's family – as they say – enemy of my enemy is my friend, though I won't go deeper into details since I'm not sure how deep you're involved into Sarashiki clan's affairs directly…"

"I see," Utsuho nodded, seemingly she understood what Ichika have meant, "Tatenashi ojō-sama has all sorts of concerns, and I really don't know every one of them." Even though they've known each other for a long time, the situation may be just as what she said. "One more thing then, Ichika-sama," Utsuho lifted her finger and spoke up, "Let me give you a piece of advice first. Even though she lost to you, don't suppose that she's actually gave up. You'll be messed around by her no matter how you defend yourself or try to prevent it. Remember to save your energy."

"Oh, so she informed you of her defeat?" Ichika wondered. That was surprising a bit, though that explained honorific '-sama' that Utsuho began to use, addressing Ichika, just like Tatenashi herself. "I hope she told you that it is a secret?"

"Of course," Utsuho nodded, "And I'm bound to keep ojō-sama's secrets, and I'm not going to ask why you didn't take Student Council President position – that's only between Ichika-sama and Tatenashi-sama," That girl really seemed like responsible person.

"Very well then," Ichika said, "As for the rest of what you've said – sooner or later she'll learn – it's not possible to get under my skin. Good night, Utsuho-san," After saying goodbye to Nohotoke elder sister, Ichika continued his way towards his room.

* * *

"Welcome back. You're pretty late today. Do you want dinner, a bath, or... do… you… want… me?" With these words Tatenashi met Ichika as soon as he opened the door into his own room. She was standing and waiting for him in the naked apron.

"Hmm… dinner," Ichika decided as he thought for several seconds. "I overworked myself and forgot to take dinner," He admitted. After making few modifications to scattergun **Avaritia** , he began development of efficient active heat sink for beam plasma cannon, **Ira** , and he got too deep into it. On a side note, he wasn't surprised to see Tatenashi here at all – of course his room was under surveillance – he simply didn't care because, naturally, there was nothing interesting or secret or valuable, just everyday stuff… and he was curious about what she's up to.

On a side note, Ichika had to install surveillance equipment because of Laura's idiotic habit to sneak in to his room. And, despite Ichika finally got tired of that and used **Realizer** to 'deprogram' that habit from Laura's brain, he left surveillance equipment as it was, just in case…

"Alright!" She exclaimed happily as she quickly put a lunchbox on table (just where did she get it?). "By the way, I intend to stay here from today onwards!" She announced as she already served a first course, main course, and already started to heat up water to brew a tea.

"You… oh!" Ichika suddenly noticed what exactly she prepared for him, "So you're the Russian Representative not only on words, but you even familiar with their cookery? Nice," Ichika said with unfeigned interest as he quickly headed to bathroom to wash his hands.

* * *

As Ichika was consuming food that Tatenashi prepared, she stood near him with satisfied smile. "All right," Ichika concluded, "You may stay." Really, the one who can serve food that late may be useful. "But this is first year dorm, can you really live here?"

"Of course!" Sarashiki assured him, "That's the power of the Student Council President!" Tatenashi stared at Ichika happily as she casually opened her fan. There's the words 'Everything is strange'… no, this girl is strange. "Now I can brag to everyone! Only one girl managed to live in the same room as Ichika-sama before me. I'll become your second woman then!"

"I see you like to get yourself into troubles…" Ichika noted, _'Isn't that a perversion? Ah, who cares…'_ He thought. "By the way," Ichika asked, "Why are you wearing swimsuit? It's not a genuine 'naked apron', you know?"

"Fufu, are you disappointed?" She asked cunningly.

"A little," Ichika replied, "What for all that masquerade anyway?"

"That's just a little revenge since I couldn't catch onto the summer wave!" Sarashiki answered, Tatenashi looked like she wanted to show herself in the swimsuit as she stuck her butt out, looking really radiant. By the way, Ichika noticed that she already set up all her stuff, she didn't just put full cardboard boxes; she already took out her luggage… and there was much lesser than Ichika expected.

"That's all you have?" He asked as he examined Tatenashi's possession, "I've expected more from the offspring of Sarashiki family…"

"Um, no, that's all I need," Girl smiled again but this time her smile seemed a bit unnatural. "But I see Ichika-sama has a lot of custom stuff…"

Indeed, Ichika had custom glass desk with three built-in keyboards, very high quality holoscreen with 16k Hyper HD resolution, and custom-assembled 8.2 audio system, as well as leather chair. "I have rather little amount of free time, so I want to spend it in comfort, I don't see anything wrong about that," Ichika explained his point of view.

"Oh, I'm not blaming you, just saying," Tatenashi smiled again. "Now, please excuse me," She winked to Ichika and disappeared into bathroom.

"Interesting…" Ichika noted to himself, "Did I just get a personal assistant, completely for free?"

* * *

In fifteen minutes Tatenashi returned from bathroom. She got rid of her swimsuit and apron, and now she was wearing only half-buttoned shirt and panties. Tatenashi's firm butt's really nice, and the light purple laced underwear over it is a little… well, it's showing a lot. "Now, Ichika-sama, what do you want next? Do you want me? Do you want me? Or do… you… want… me?" She asked happily.

In the meantime, Ichika was reading today's news. Even not looking at her he managed to examine her dressing. But… "Oh, nice looks," He said, "And right now I want you… to stay quiet for a while," He added imperturbably, "Come, just sit here for a bit and let me read," Ichika patted his own thigh, prompting Tatenashi to sit on his lap.

"Ah, Ichika-sama!" Sarashiki quickly approached him and sat on his lap, "I'm so…" But she couldn't finish her phrase as Ichika's right arm touched back of her head. Her sight became unfocused and now she was sitting, senselessly staring into space. "Sorry, Hetare Mutsugō, but I'm tired, so game's over for today," He said, holding the girl and standing up.

Ichika placed Tatenashi on her bed. "She's rather cute when she's not trying to look like 'miss enigma'. Hmm…" He got quite vile idea. As she was lying on bed so defenseless, Ichika unbuttoned one of her shirt's button, and moved gentle fabric aside, revealing her right nipple. And then she leaned over and took it into his mouth.

"Umm…" Girl moaned quietly. No wonder, even under effect of realizer that super-sensitive teenager's body would show some reaction. Ichika sucked her nipple for about ten seconds, moving his tongue around and slightly biting it. During this time Tatenashi moaned several more times.

"Nice," Ichika said as he left girl's breast, "Your body really is nice… For some reason you remind me of young Tabane much more than Houki does…" He thought aloud. Then he buttoned her shirt and covered her with blanket, "Now, sleep a bit, let's say… ten hours," Ichika said as he snapped his fingers near Tatenashi's ear.

* * *

September, 10th. 10:20 A.M.

Tatenashi slowly woke up. She stretched her limbs and yawned sweetly, before she sat in bed and opened her eyes. She looked into the window and smiled – today was Sunday and there was sunny outside – so nice. _'Wait, sunny?!'_ She suddenly realized her situation – it's September and sun's already that high?! She quickly summoned her I.S. clock. _'10:22?! How much have I slept?! Wait, where's Ichika?! What happened yesterday?!'_ Her thoughts were at complete disarray.

She made a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to remember yesterday's events. _'Ichika came back quite late… I served a dinner for him… Then I took a shower and changed clothes… Then I came out and tried to play a prank… He complimented my looks… Ichika no ecchi…'_ Tatenashi thought but she actually smiled, _"…and then he allowed me to sit on his lap while he was reading… and then…'_ Last thing she remembered – she was looking at Ichika's holoscreen – he was reading something completely uninteresting (in her opinion) – something about local conflict somewhere in south America, also there were news about CACEU [Central African Customs and Economic Union]…

"Have I really fell asleep sitting on his lap?! Just like that?! How could that happen?!" Girl asked herself, "And I slept for more than ten hours!?". Of course, yesterday Ichika woke her up early, and when she fell asleep, it was already almost midnight, but still… "What a shame…" For some reason Tatenashi was very displeased with herself. She quickly jumped out of the bed and rushed to shower… poor girl, if only she'd know… But no one forced her to live in the same room with Ichika.

In the meantime, Ichika was in City, he was called to Navy military base. Besides, he wanted to visit Gotanda residence… Just like every other academy student, he got an invitation ticket for school's anniversary. Initially, he just wanted to throw it away, but then he remembered his old football teammate's desire to at least take a look at I.S. academy, so he just decided to give him that ticket. It's better than just throwing it away.

* * *

September, 10th. 11:15 P.M.

After Ichika returned from the city, he again was constructing a heat sink for his plasma cannon until the late evening.

Now he was taking shower in his bathroom. "It's more time-consuming than I've expected…" Ichika thought aloud as he washed away the shampoo and rubbed off the water on his hair. "…but I had to foresee that – in the end, excessive heat generation is the main problem of all types of beam weapons…"

"Hi! I'm here to wash your back!" The bathroom door suddenly opened, and Tatenashi in a swimsuit came in. She's wearing the school designated P.E. swimsuit, and the monstrous body almost breaks the fabrics of the deep blue cloth, especially the voluptuous breasts that could leave a deep impression

"What?" Ichika asked with explicit skepticism, "Why are you here?"

"I'm going to wash your back," She repeated.

"I heard from the first time," Ichika replied, "What I meant is 'Don't you think you're going a bit overboard'?"

"Ara ara, you're talking like a shy and introverted person. Okay, show everything you have to your roommate!" She asked playfully.

"Ah, introverted…" Ichika's eyes flashed. "Okay, I'll show you, but only if you show yourself to me," He added, and without waiting for permission he grabbed her swimsuit. In the next moment swimsuit became half-transparent and Ichika pulled it right through Tatenashi's body, leaving her completely naked.

He could see it in her eyes – it required all her willpower to not act like a normal teenage girl would act, but meet this situation with dignity. "Ichika no hentai…" She mumbled, but didn't leave the bathroom, thus demonstrating all her luxury body to Ichika.

"Alright, now we're even, if you really want to wash my back – proceed," Ichika turned his back to Tatenashi.

"Okay okay. I'm starting," She said as Ichika got a light touch on his back. The soft breasts touched Ichika's skin.

"Yeah, that's how it should be," Even someone like Ichika could became a bit excited when girl's using her own breasts to rub his back, especially considering Tatenashi's breast size.

"Ichika no hentai…" She repeated again as her arms reached over from behind his back skillfully, and the finger seemed to be drawing something on his chest. "Is there any part that's itchy?" She asked.

"Nope," Ichika shook his head. Tatenashi's breast covered with bathing foam (that's probably Tatenashi's personal item) was rubbed onto his back with suitable force. In the meantime, he was thinking, _'Letting others rub my back... how long has it been? Maybe since a long time ago. I haven't experienced this ever since Chifuyu washed my back when I was young… Damn, that girl's washing my back with her own breasts and I'm thinking about Chifuyu… Ha ha…'_ That laugh in his mind sounded quite ironic.

"Wah, Ichika-sama, your body's so well-built. You didn't just train, did you? All your muscles are so well-developed…" Definitely Tatenashi was carefully examining Ichika's body.

"Thanks for your compliment," Ichika replied. "I can say the same about you… by the way, when we'll be done here, don't dress up – I'll give you a full body massage…" To be honest, Tatenashi figure's good, and not just good, but really outstanding.

"Ah! I've heard that Ichika-sama's massaging skills are pretty good!" Sarashiki exclaimed happily.

"No doubts, Cecilia's tongue is pretty long…" Ichika sighed.

"I've also heard that you used to practice kenjutsu. How about now?" Tatenashi suddenly changed theme.

"Of course, I spent years to develop my own kenjutsu style, adapting Japanese 19th century's techniques for use with dual-edged sword," Ichika replied. "Too bad that here's no one but my sister to spar with, but she has pitifully little amount of free time…"

"What about Houki-chan?" Tatenashi asked. "I can tell that she's really hardworking. I'm the same kind of person too," Tatenashi added.

"Stop saying nonsense," Ichika frowned.

"Huh, why? This girl's [she meant herself] a hardworking person, you know? I'm not talented," She stated confidently.

"Onee-san also irritates me saying such things…" Ichika sighed, "And now you too? That's just cruel, you know? People doesn't bear equal. Saying that everything can be achieved via hard work, and talent has nothing to do with that… this is a lie, plain and simple. You aren't encouraging people – you just give them false hope. This is what Shinonono Tabane always was telling to my sister, and this is what I'm telling you now."

"I don't think so," Tatenashi replied casually. Shattering her worldview isn't an easy task, though that wasn't Ichika's point anyway. "Alright, I'm going out first. I'm done with your back too," She moved her body away from Ichika. After washing away bubbles on her, she opened the door and took the towel. "Now, massage, ma-ssa-ge!" She exclaimed happily as she almost jumped on her bed, still completely nude.

"Promise is a promise," Ichika said as he took massage oil.

* * *

September, 11th. 4:10 P.M.

"Training hard, I see?" Ichika asked via public I.S. channel.

"I-I-Ichika?!" Houki exclaimed in panic, in the next moment she crashed into arena's wall, as she lost balance. As part of her training, Tatenashi made her control **Crimson Camellia** 's PIC [Passive Inertia Canceller] manually. She was flying in circles, then from her circular motion she changed it to a straight motion, as if she wanted to break through the opponent's fire at one go and use her swords to slash the enemy. That was the initial plan, at least, until Ichika interfered (he precisely calculated the moment when to interfere).

"Houki-chan, you shouldn't let yourself to be distracted so easily," Tatenashi said, as she shook her head slightly. She was sitting on stand, very close to arena field, observing Houki's training.

"Y-yes, sorry…" Houki replied guiltily, as she stood up.

"I understand your desire to look good in front of a guy you like, but pull yourself together, Houki-chan," Sarashiki spoke out explicitly provocative phrase.

"What?! No! I'm not! Sempai, what are you tal…?!" Houki couldn't find right word to justify herself, but Ichika Interrupted her.

"Are you trying to achieve better synchronization between I.S. and pilot?" Ichika wondered.

"That's right. It's about Houki-chan and **Crimson Camellia** ," Tatenashi confirmed. Now that she mentioned it, Houki tightened her face.

"Ah, yes, I've heard that you couldn't activate **Crimson Camellia** 's _One-Off Ability_ since that operation two months ago, right, Houki?" Ichika asked as he sat Near Tatenashi, "Still no luck?"

Houki protested with her eyes as she looked at Ichika, but he just slightly shook his head. That was true, however – after incident with **Silver Gospel** , Houki's **Crimson Camellia** was never able to activate **Gorgeous Dance** successfully. Even though she tried to do that during training, the machine didn't react at all. However, it was indicated in the data registry, so it's unknown where the problem was.

"That's the contradiction of 4th generation I.S. units," Ichika decided to express his opinion. "Usually One-Off Ability only available after **Second Shift** , which only can happen when I.S. and pilot already in very good sync, in other words, when they know almost everything about one another. On the other hand, if you're piloting 4th generation frame, One-Off Ability is available right after **First Shift** , or after 'initial acquaintance', if you like. As such, you can't use direct mental command to activate One-Off Ability – your I.S. simply can't understand what exactly you want. As such, you have to use strong emotions instead."

"Ichika-sama is right," Tatenashi agreed, "Basically, the One-Off Ability needs to be activated when the pilot's mental state is in sync with the I.S., one way or another. Do you remember the last time you activated it?"

"I… I do. Well..." Houki definitely remembered it, but explaining it would be too embarrassing…

"If you recreate that emotion, the I.S. will respond to you," Sarashiki explained.

"I… I see…" Houki continued to peek at her childhood friend. "Wait, Ichika, before your I.S. achieved the **Second Shift** , you also used emotions to activate your **One-Off Ability**?" She asked.

"First, I'd like to note that _Second Shift_ has nothing to do with it. Second shift is definitely a mark on your I.S. evolution curve, but not on its learning curve. As for your question – yes, I used emotions before, and I'm still using emotions sometimes even now, in certain situations it's more convenient way," He explained. "My One-Off Ability, **Paradise of Darkness** , converts defense into offense, it can destroy both energy and matter. As such, to activate it you need hatred, and not that childish hatred that you feel towards other girls sometimes, but true one, black hatred that burns inside you. Think of opposite emotion and it may do the trick…"

"I… I see…" Houki stuttered... well, that's explainable as she now was looking at Ichika in slight shock, wrapping her head around such a flow of information (mixed with mockery) ain't that easy…

"Let me explain," Tatenashi interfered as she raised her fan, she also seemed a bit confused (what Ichika just said about Second Shift you won't find in any book), but she kept her face. "In contrast to **Demon Queen** 's 1 to 0 removal ability, **Crimson Camellia** has a 1 to 100 increase ability, and it seems like it can pass the energy to others. As expected of a machine Professor Shinonono made herself. It's really outstanding."

"So... this ability can also be used on anyone other than Ichika's **Demon Queen**?" Houki wondered.

"Well, I can't really predict that to the details. Why don't you try it out?" Sarashiki asked.

" **Crimson Camellia** can fight alone and can support others," Ichika nodded as he stood up, "Though, it's not the only reason why she's so dedicated to help you, Houki."

"Wha… what you mean?" Houki asked in confusion.

"I mean, despite that **Crimson Camellia** is perfect partner for **Demon Queen** , she's also a perfect counter. **Paradise of Darkness** can destroy energy and **Gorgeous Dance** can restore it. So, if you people will have to fight **Demon Queen** for some reason, your _One-Off Ability_ will be invaluable…" Ichika smiled ironically as he stood up and headed towards exit, "Am I right, Sarashiki?" He vanished, leaving awkward silence between two girls, though Tatenashi continued to smile carelessly. Ichika knew that it won't change anything, Sarashiki won't back away from her plan, he just wanted to plant a seed of doubt into Houki's mind, to prevent her from developing too much trust in Tatenashi. If Houki begin to suspect that Tatenashi's training her specifically to fight Ichika… that should be enough for now.

Ichika knew that Houki started to train under Tatenashi's guidance since that Saturday when they were at JSDF test site. He had no idea how Sarashiki forced Houki to submit, though that girl is bold and strong, so there was no surprise. And he wasn't worried about that, not at all. He was just interested… Shinonono Tabane created **Crimson Camellia** as perfect partner and counter for both former and new Ichika's I.S-es. Which role Tabane herself meant?

* * *

September, 11th. 10:45 P.M.

Ichika returned to his room. Unlike yesterday, no one was waiting for him with dinner or provocative suggestions. Tatenashi's bed was made up, and her stuff was gone. Ichika wasn't surprised – he saw that she was packing her stuff. On his desk Ichika found a piece of paper with handwritten note.

 _'Ichika-sama, I'm very sorry to leave you so abruptly, but I think we have to make a short break in our relationships,'_ there was a smiling smiley, Ichika snorted as he read that. _'I need some time and distance to think about us,'_ there was winking smiley after that phrase.

"You disappointed me…" Ichika sighed as he burned that 'letter' with discharge from electro-matrix. Though it looked like 'romantic goodbye note', Ichika easily read between lines: Tatenashi admitted that all her attempts to get under Ichika's skin have failed, and she's giving up, at least for now. And Ichika was disappointed that she couldn't tell him that in person – unworthy of eldest scion of Sarashiki clan… or maybe she wrote a letter because she was still trying to look enigmatic? Who knows…

"It seems I won once again," He smiled to himself with satisfaction, "Though I'll miss her handmade dinners…" He added and as his smile became a bit ironic. She was really good at cooking, and he could eat way after both canteen and cafeteria were closed.

Good thing was that no one learned that Ichika and Tatenashi were roommates, even if it was for less than three days (despite Tatenashi was intending to brag about that, she actually didn't tell anyone).

Though Ichika was sure that she didn't give up completely yet, it seems that things will stay as they are, for now…

* * *

And this is it! See you soon people, don't forget to write a review!


	15. Escalation

Hello again people! And there's fifteenth chapter.

Honestly, this is what I was trying to avoid when I was at very beginning of the story – chapters that contain more than 12 000 words. But I simply couldn't make this one smaller – I promised action, not another filler… well, you'll see by yourself.

Now, for those who wrote a **review** :

 **Imperial-samaB, rajdiangelo, DarkBladerZX, Eurigos, killjoytommy xghosthunter115** : Many thanks people. I hope you'll like this chapter, especially the ending, because actually it's just a beginning.

 **FateBurn:** Tatenashi isn't going to give up that easily, she just took a timeout.

 **InTheYearOfTheCat:** As I said – first lemon will be very soon, just one or two more chapters.

Now, let's proceed to chapter.

* * *

 **Chapter XV – Escalation**

…

September, 17th, Sunday. 8:05 A.M.

The school anniversary's finally here. As the school anniversary event is not opened to everyone, there won't be any opening fireworks, but the students' excitement was enough to fight against enemies, and everyone's feeling really pumped up.

Ichika, on the other hand, had more imminent task right now. He just finished working with his I.N. wings, as he increased each wing's length from 8.5 to 10 feet. He had to do it to provide more stable flow of plasma for his beam plasma cannon **Ira** , also it will increase power output of wing-mounded plasma thrusters.

"Connection reestablished," **Naamah** reported as wings once again were attached to frame. " **Fold-Out Armor** operational. Adonai, repeated calibration of plasma circulation contours and plasma thrusters is required. Estimated time: 7 hours 28 minutes 19 seconds. Please note: calibration cannot be performed in stand-by mode."

"Yes, I know," Ichika replied. "You may proceed now, I'll be busy for the next ten hours with this idiotic anniversary, anyway."

"Understood," A.I. reported, "Proceeding…"

With that, Ichika opened his eyes and his throne-like chair ceased to glow. All hornet-like mobile units returned to their places. Ichika stood up and left the hangar, huge doors sealed it behind his back. He sighed and looked at his left arm – right now there was no black chain as his I.N. was already deployed and was left in hangar. While **Naamah** 's performing calibration, she will be unavailable for summon, but today seemed to be the best day to perform that long procedure, since Ichika won't be able to do anything useful, anyway.

* * *

September, 17th, Sunday. 11:35 A.M.

"You're lying, right? You'll be greeted by Orimura-sama if you go to class one?! For real?!"

"And he will be wearing a tuxedo, too?"

"And you can take photos with him on your way out if you order something! A two-people photo! A two-people photo! We must go!"

Almost entire academy was filled with chattering like that. And, as temporal 'servants' of 'Maid Café', organized by class 1-1, the senior manager and several maids were serving clients since early in the morning. Even so, in the matter of fact, Ichika was the only one who's really busy because he's too popular and, at the same time, he's lacking a body double. The other people are all enjoying it as per normal.

"Welcome. Please walk here, ojō-sama," Ichika greeted another 'customer'. Nevertheless, Ichika doesn't seemed bothered, he stood at his post, greeting 'clients' with soft smile, not letting anyone to notice hypocrisy behind it. Honestly, as he put himself as 'senior manager', he chose a cushy job as his only tasks were to escort a 'customer' to her table and watch over café's 'maids' to not let them to produce potboilers. Oh yes, and let girl to take photo with himself on her way out… nothing special.

On a side note, the café servants (the 'maids') are Charlotte, Cecilia, and unexpectedly, Houki and Laura. Even if Laura had to take part since she proposed this 'Maid Café' thingy in the first place, Houki also unexpectedly agreed...

Charlotte in the maid outfit looks really happy as she had been smiling since morning. Is it because Ichika said that it suits her? But she said so to every 'maid', yet Charlotte's been feeling especially happy. It seems she has some sort of fetish about maid outfit, or may be fantasy…

Houki, on the other hand, sulks each time Ichika told her to invite the customers in or serve them, and that is quite irritating. And she looks especially frustrated when the customers ask Ichika for photo on their way out. Her behavior is understandable, as well as her reasons to join café's stuff (to 'guard' Ichika from other girls, no doubts) but the fact that she doesn't fit café' servant's role is unquestionable.

"Ah, there's a signboard for the last in line."

"Huh? What kind of games do they have?"

"I heard that there's janken, memory match and dart shooting. It seemed that they designed these choices for the people who aren't good with certain games."

"Huh-can't we go in yet?"

Those are samples of chattering among the crowd outside that seemingly 'flooded' the entire first year corridor, and there's people, people, and more people everywhere. Seemingly, café's maids would be suffering trying to serve so many people. Ichika, on the other hand, was only becoming more and more certain that letting **Demon Queen** to commit calibration today was very right idea, as it seems that he'll be wasting his time here until the late evening.

"Hey, the manager over there, bring me to my seat!" A familiar and slightly crude voice interrupted Ichika's thoughts. Rin, who's dressed in a cheongsam, was just standing there. He turned around and looked at her with cold gaze.

"Manners, young lady, manners," Ichika said quietly, and his voice together with his eyes cooled down her attitude. "And what's with this clothing? Looking good, but why?"

It seemed that only one piece of cloth is used, and the slits are rather daring. There's a picture of a dragon on the red cloth, and there's gold lace and delicate embroidery. Pretty nice, actually…

"I-I-It's nothing! Our class' doing a Chinese teahouse!" She flushed slightly as Ichika complimented her looks.

"A Chinese teahouse? I see…" Ichika replied without enthusiasm as he was escorting Rin to her table.

"I'm supposed to be the waitress, but because your class is just beside us, we don't have any customers at all!" Ichika's second childhood friend was fuming.

"As if I'm glad about that," Ichika snorted, "Because of that everlasting crowd I can't even go and see what other classes are doing."

"I… I see…" Rin mumbled in reply.

"Anyway, please sit here, ojō-sama," Ichika said as he brought Rin to an empty table.

"O-Ojō-sama...?" Rin stuttered. Being called like that? By Ichika?!

"This is how I should be calling you now," He shrugged, "It's a service café, after all…"

"Fu-Fun! Anyway, it can't be helped if you have to do this... yup, can't be helped…" It's hard to say – she was embarrassed to be called like that or she was offended because Ichika called her like that only because he had to. Not that Ichika himself really cared.

On a side note, the furniture was already past the school anniversary's level. Cecilia prepared them all herself. The insistence she had on the quality of the tables and chairs was especially shocking. They looked so classy, and very pricy, no doubts – Cecilia's way to show-off. The tea accessories were all intricately chosen, and the classmates in charge of these seemed to be trying their best not to let their hands tremble.

"Please have a menu," Ichika gave Rin the aforementioned thing, "One of our maids will come to take your order as soon as you ready…"

"Hey, wait!" Rin exclaimed, "You won't be taking my order?!"

"It's not my duties," Ichika replied indifferently, "I only have to greet customer and escort him or her to empty table. If I'll be taking orders…" He nodded towards corridor "…this will never end." As he said that, Ichika returned to his post, where another girl was already waiting for him, leaving quite disappointed Rin behind.

"It's not how it's supposed to be!" Rin shouted. With the sound of the table and chair colliding, she stood up forcefully.

At this moment, a fan appeared in front of her before opening, and the word written on it is 'Rasetsu'… [Elusive] "Okay okay, stop creating a commotion here. The other customers will be frightened, you know?"

 _'Well, this is just great…'_ Ichika thought as he already foresaw what's going to happen next, "Tatenashi…" Ichika facepalmed.

"Ichika-sama, don't you need to call me 'sempai'?" She asked cunningly as she kept the fan back in her direction, and folded it back with a snap. The refined movement sounded just like some comedic storyteller or a Japanese dance choreographer.

"You're just a second year high school girl and I've already graduated, so I'm your sempai," Ichika replied indifferently, "And why are you dressed like this?" Tatenashi was dressed exactly like maids that was serving in class 1-1 café.

But before Tatenashi could reply, an extremely noisy girl rushed in.

"Hello, this is the News Club interrupting. I'm here to interview the manager Orimura!" It was the news group ace Mayuzumi Kaoruko. She and Ichika are rather familiar with each other since she often tried to take photos of him.

"Ah, Kaoruko-chan! Yohoo!" Tatenashi exclaimed joyfully.

"Wa! Ta-chan! That maid outfit suits you too! Ah, since we met, let me take a photo of you and Orimura-sama!" After saying that, Kaoruko started pressing the shutter quickly, and Tatenashi already took the 'YAY' victory pose... why all this is happening? Are the second year students have nothing better to do?

"...I'm going back," Rin mumbled. That was understandable as now all attention was focused on Tatenashi, besides, Rin came here not to eat but to see Ichika, and since he's busy – no reason to stay here any longer.

"I understand, Rin," Ichika sighed, "You still have your own class to attend to. I might go to your side to take a look."

"Uh, well, I'll serve you if you're a guest," Rin nodded.

"Okay," Ichika waved his goodbye. As he exchanged words with Rin, the photography situation changed as drastically as the clouds in the autumn sky.

"Ichika-sama," Tatenashi asked, "Is that true that any customer can have a photo with you?"

"Yes," Ichika replied emotionlessly.

"Does it mean that maids and other students from your class will be left without photos?" She smiled cunningly.

"I… don't know," Ichika shrugged, he actually didn't think about that.

"It's not good to not include other girls that work with you in this," Tatenashi nodded to Kaoruko, "Didn't you take a photo of me?"

"Ta-chan's too overbearing, so it can't work. Ah, since it's a rare sight, we might as well get the other girls over. How about that?" Photographer suggested.

"Not a bad idea. I'll take care of the shop at this time," Tatenashi waved with her fan.

"You ain't learning, are you?" Ichika asked Tatenashi quietly, but with that crowd around he didn't say anything else.

"Okay, let's do it then! I'm going to take the photos. All the maids, please line up here," Just like that, Kaoruko started taking photos.

* * *

After some turmoil, all the 'Maid+Manager' pair shots were finally taken.

Mayuzumi looked delighted as she looked through the preview photos on the digital camera. "Yeah! The girls of class 1-1 are really sporty. I'm really happy as a photographer."

"Kaoruko-chan, I'll leave it to you at the Student Council," Tatenashi said.

"Of course, leave it to this Mayuzumi Kaoruko!" Photographer patted her chest as she said that. Why is it that even though she's in an Arts Club, her mannerisms are like those of the Sports Club...

"Oh yeah, Ichika-sama, I'll be helping out here for the time being. Why don't you check out the other stalls in school?" Sarashiki suggested.

"Hmm? You're willing to be my stand-in?" Ichika asked.

"Yup, you can rest a bit. This is Onee-sa…" She saw scarlet flash in Ichika's eyes and quickly corrected herself "…Student Council President special service!"

"Very well then, thank you," Ichika thanked her. "There's a guest I invited to academy and I shall meet him I guess…" He thought aloud and headed off.

* * *

"May I bother you for a while?" Female's voice called for Ichika. Voice was unusual as it belongs to mature woman, not one of academy students. "Sorry, but I'm from this industry," She added as lady in suit quickly passed her namecard to Ichika.

"Hmm? I.S. armament development company 'Mitsurugi' representative, Makigami Ayako-san? Can I help you?" Ichika wondered. Woman was rather good looking, and the flowing long black hair really suits her. She's been smiling ever since she called Ichika. Well, looking from aside, she does have that 'Professional' look.

"Yes, we'd like to have Orimura-kun use our company's equipment. How about this additional armor or thruster? Also, if you decide to use it now, we'll even add a leg blade!" She said, though, she actually didn't sound like a professional sales manager for some reason, despite her looks.

"Are you serious?" Ichika asked with explicit sarcasm. "Ayako-san, my I.S. is equipped with full set of armaments handcrafted personally by myself, there's no way I may have any need for equipment, manufactured by some side company. When you introduced yourself as an I.S. armament development company representative, I thought that you want to hire me, as your company urgently need help with some research project."

Ayako-san seemed slightly taken aback. "Uh, well… actually, we need help with something…" She mumbled, though, she still was trying to maintain her smile.

"If so, we can discuss it, but I want to warn you – my services aren't cheap. But if money isn't an issue – I repeat – we can discuss it, but not now, there's someone already waiting for me. I'm sorry, but now I have to leave." And before Ayako-san could say anything else, Ichika vanished.

* * *

"Ha ha ha!" Right in front of the main entrance to I.S. Academy, a guy's holding onto a ticket with one hand and smiling. He's Ichika's former teammate, Gotanda Dan. "Finally, finally, finally! The land of the girls, I.S. Academy... HERE I COME!"

When Ichika gave that invitation ticked to Dan, he was running around his room in circles for about ten minutes (though that reaction was expected). And today Dan arrived at I.S. Academy. It's been over ten minutes since the arranged time, but he didn't really mind. _'Ahh, I can see lots of pretty girls here... the standards are really high, really.'_

Even though Dan's wearing casual clothes that were just chosen, other than that, he's just an ordinary teenage guy standing there, and it seems that he's getting quite some attention, as everyone's starting to gossip about him.

"Is that guy someone's boyfriend?"

"I don't know. He looks okay."

"Huh… I find that Orimura-sama's better."

Dan noticed the girls discussing intensely about something, and his heart started to beat wildly. _'Wow, everyone's looking at me... is-is-is-is this the sign of a new development!?'_

"The guy over there," Someone called for Dan.

"Yes?" Suddenly, Dan got shocked after being called, and he straightened his back. Turning around, he saw a bespectacled and meticulous-looking girl, Nohotoke Utsuho, standing down there with a file in her hand.

"Who invited you? May I check your ticket?" She asked.

"Of… of course…" Dan frantically passed over the ticket that was squashed flat.

"The one who gave it was... oh? Orimura-sama?"

 _'-sama? He already managed to train every girl here to use that honorific?'_ Dan remembered how the same thing happened in Junior High School. "The… Then, you know Ichika?"

"I don't think there is any student in this school who doesn't know him," Utsuho answered as if it was quite obvious, "Okay, let me return this to you."

 _'This… This girl's really pretty... no, cute! I've got to find some way to know her more... something I can talk about, something...'_ Dan thought, frantically trying to find a theme for conversation. "We… Well!"

"Hmm? What is it?" Utsuho looked at him questioningly.

"The… The weather's great today!" Dan blurted out.

"Yeah," Utsuho looked at him weirdly and then left.

After the conversation ended like that, Dan felt depressed, thinking that he wasn't interesting enough. _'Uh-Uh, I'm so useless... I'm so useless...'_ If there's a bass guitar with him, Dan would be performing a sad tune. Feeling like he had half a foot in the coffin, he just waited for Ichika to arrive.

* * *

"There you are," Ichika said as he approached Dan, "Welcome to I.S. academy."

"Oh... Hello, cap…" Dan turned to his former team captain. Seeing Dan's lifeless response, Ichika wasn't surprised at all.

"What's wrong now?" Ichika asked, though he already knew the overall reason.

"It's nothing... I'm really uninteresting..." Dan mumbled.

"Ah, this again…" Ichika sighed.

"What you mean with that 'this again' of yours?!" Dan exclaimed angrily.

"Keep your cool man, don't cause a ruckus or you'll be chased out," Ichika waved him off. "Follow me, let's go over to where Rin is. She'll be surprised…"

Having been hit hard, Dan finally recovered as he now follows Ichika from behind, "Ah, you're talking about Rin? How's she?"

"Not bad, I'd say," Ichika replied. "Still wears those ponytails, still has crush on me, still has no courage and/or no idea how to express those feelings, and so on, and so forth…" He added casually.

"Man, you're really evil, you know that?" Dan asked. "Knowing about girl's feelings and doing nothing about it nevertheless…"

"Not at all," Ichika shook his head. "If she wants me then she has to act, not waiting for me to 'notice' her feelings and do all the job instead of her. I'm not going to do someone's job instead of anyone. That's my rule, about which, by the way, you knew since the very first time we've met in Junior High."

"Yeah…" Dan sighed, looking at his former captain, _'I can't understand him…'_

"Feel free to give her an advice," Ichika shrugged.

 _'No way man, I'll stay away from your affairs as far as possible…'_ As he thought that, slightly unmoved and humming Dan was brought into the school by Ichika.

* * *

"So you wanna check out where Rin is?" Ichika asked.

"Hmm? Well, there's no need to go there right now. Since it's a rare chance, I want to look around," Dan replied.

"Very well," Ichika agreed.

"Ah, it's Orimura-sama! Yahoo!"

"I'll go to your shop later!"

"Huh, taking photos of Orimura-sama in official suit! Success!"

No matter where they went, girls were calling for Ichika, and he had to wave his hand and/or answer back. It's really tedious, but he got used to it long ago, since Junior High at least…

As Ichika continued to repeat those actions, Dan could be heard murmuring from behind him. "It's just like in middle school…"

"Everything has a price…" Ichika gave ambiguous comment.

* * *

After the short tour around the Academy, during which Ichika participated in 'Defuse Bomb' game (which he easily won) in Arts Club, Dan finally decided to visit Rin. They climbed up the stairs and walked into class 1-2.

"Welcome!" A Chinse girl welcomed her guests.

"GUHA! Ri… Rin! You… what's this... what are you doing?" Dan seemed lost for words.

"What? Why's Dan here!?" Rin screamed as if she just saw a ghost.

"The… The cheongsam really doesn't suit you. Anyway, why… GUUAH!" Dan got interrupted forcefully since Rin threw the tray and it went all the way into the face...

"GO… GO BACK!" Rin shouted.

"WHAT'S WITH YOU! IT HURTS!" Dan shouted back, "Ahh… you're so different from that cute woman I just met."

"What? Who are you talking about?" Rin asked.

"Fu fu fu... not telling you," Dan laughed.

"Ichika, about who that idiot's talking about?" Rin asked for support from aside.

"DON'T CALL ME AN IDIOT!" Dan protested.

"I guess he means Nohotoke Utsuho, Student Council member, she's checking guests' tickets on the entrance," Ichika explained indifferently as three found an unoccupied table and Dan opened the menu.

"So, she's from Student Council? Then why you called her a 'cute woman'? Not a 'cute girl'?" Rin wondered.

"She seems to be older than us," Dan replied.

"She's a third year student," Ichika explained.

"And now I know her name!" Dan added.

"Shut up! Take this, water!" Rin forcibly placed the glass of water on table.

"Wah! What are you doing, Rin? Just put it down nicely!" Dan complained.

"You're too noisy, Dan! I'll punch you away!" Rin exclaimed.

"...Don't do that. I saw on TV before. You're a cadet or something, right? I'll die…" Dan seemed cooled down a bit.

"That's right, so you have to respect me more," Rin said proudly.

"Ha ha ha. You're really funny," Dan laughed.

"I wasn't joking. Really..." Rin narrowed her eyes.

Just as Dan and Rin were squabbling, Ichika's phone rang.

"Charlotte, what is it?" Ichika asked as he answered the call.

"Where are you right now, Ichika? The customers are grumbling, asking where you went. It's getting busy now, so hurry up and come back please…" Charlotte sounded really anxious, something that doesn't fit her character, so situation was rather serious.

"Very well, I'll be going back now. I'm in the classroom next door, so I'll be back soon," Ichika assured her.

"Alright, thank you…" Charlotte ended the call.

After ending the conversation, Ichika told Dan and Rin that he's going back, "Rin, I'm leaving Dan in your care."

"Hey, wait!" Both of them exclaimed simultaneously.

"Sorry, but I can't," Ichika replied. "I'm sure you two won't be at loss," He added and left.

* * *

"Ahh, Ichika, it's good that you're here. Look, we have a lot of customers waiting for being escorted to their seats," Charlotte informed as soon as Ichika arrived.

"I see," Ichika replied as he examined the crowd. "Speaking of which, where's Tatenashi?"

"She said that she had things to do at the Student Council, and then ran off somewhere," Charlotte replied with hidden irritation.

 _'What a bitch…'_ Ichika mentally facepalmed.

"Anyway, the shop's really busy now. Please, help," Charlotte almost begged.

"Okay, don't worry, I'll take care of that," Ichika assured French girl.

Ichika checked out the other people, and found out that everyone's rather popular. Most notably, Laura, who normally felt like she's hard to approach, became very popular after she dressed up as a maid, and she got called around to play games everywhere. Well, she's miniature and pretty as a picture, she's like a living French doll, actually, so no wonder other girls like her…

That's a bit surprisingly, but Houki's popular too. Her normal clothes make it hard to imagine that she would wear a maid outfit, and like Charlotte, her popularity's second only to Laura. Just now, with the skirt flying slightly, Houki walked back to the kitchen...

Anyway, time was to get back to work.

* * *

After about an hour, situation was finally resolved. Every customer got her own seat and queue outside the class seemed organized again.

"Good work, Ichika-sama," A girl said that to Ichika

"Ah, Takatsuki-san, it's been tough on you too," Ichika replied. The reliable person in class 1-1 – Takatsuki Shizune seemed to be busy with a lot of things.

"You can rest for a while. We need to tidy up the shop a bit, so it'll be quite some time," She informed. It seems time has come for technical timeout.

"Are you sure you don't need my help?" Ichika asked.

"No, thank you. It will take about an hour; you can rest a bit. Since there's a rare chance, why don't you follow the girls to some stall?" She suggested.

Just when Ichika thought that he'll better walk around alone, his arm got pulled over. Ichika didn't even need his eyes at all to know whose hands it was – he learnt to discern girls by their touches.

"Then, Ichika-san, please come along with me," Of course, that was Cecilia Alcott.

Seeing this, Charlotte cried out, a rare feat for her, "Ahh! Cecilia's so sly! I want to go too, Ichika."

"Wait, if that's the case, I'm going too!" Interrupting them quickly was Houki, and her eyes looked very determined.

"Let's go, Ichika," Laura already grabbed another Ichika's hand and got ready to move.

Not that all this was unexpected, Ichika was prepared for such a turn of events. Of course, his first thought was to advise all four girls to go to hell, and then check how's **Naamah** 's doing with calibration, but… Since today's an anniversary and all four girls were working quite hard… he decided to grant those small reward for them. "Ladies, we can't leave Shizune-san here all alone, so everyone will go with me in shifts. There are four of you and we have an hour, so it's fifteen minutes, minus three minutes for location change, so it's twelve minutes for each one of you."

"In other words..."

"With Ichika..."

"Two-Two of us, alone..."

"...That's not a bad idea."

Cecilia, Charlotte, Houki and Laura kept murmuring between themselves, nodding away as if they're crushing garlic.

"Then, who fir…" Houki tried to ask but Ichika interrupted her.

"That you should decide between yourselves," He said and turned away.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" All four of them decided to choose the order through janken.

"Go!" And with that, three people chose paper, while one chose scissors.

"Ehehe... " Charlotte won the first go, and her happy look showed on her face as she raised the scissors hand that changed into a sign of victory.

* * *

"The Cooking Club? Seriously?" Ichika was a bit surprised with Charlotte's choice.

"Yup, their main theme this time is traditional cuisine. I think it's a rare chance, and I want to learn how to make Japanese dishes!" Charlotte replied happily.

She treated Ichika to a few bentos, and the light seasoning that brought out the taste of the ingredients was to his liking. But seemingly, she didn't get the point… Ichika liked her bentos because that was his favorite eastern-european cuisine (she definitely learnt to cook them from her mother, who was from eastern Europe). And now she wants to learn how to cook Japanese dishes? Ichika was disappointed as he and Charlotte entered the cooking classroom the cooking class uses.

"Ohh… That's really nice..." French girl commented. To put it simply, they're selling snacks here, but there's a lot of variety. The food arranged on the tray includes potato and stew meat, kanto cooking, salad, stew, BBQ meat and so on. There're a lot of dishes, and they all look really delicious, too bad they all are from traditional Japanese cuisine, to which Ichika was rather indifferent.

"Ah, don't tell me that's potato stewed meat?" Charlotte asked, pointing at one of dishes.

"Yup. It's said to be the dish that every woman needs to know how to cook," Ichika replied quite indifferently.

"I see... And why is that?" French girl asked.

"There seems to be a custom that women who can make the potato stewed meat best will be able to get married, but I really can't confirm or refute that…" Ichika explained.

"Ma… Married…!? I… I see…" Perhaps surprised by Ichika's words, Charlotte was shocked as she continued to stare at the potato stewed meat.

Ichika, on the other hand, knew exactly which effect his phrase made on that girl, as now he found something to do for her till the end of their free time. Charlotte was tasting aforementioned dish, talking with Cooking Club president, she definitely was intending to learn how to cook potato stewed meat.

"This dish was cooked through a pressure cooker. This can not only cut short the cooking time, it will also affect the flavor," President explained.

Charlotte pricked her ears and listened to the President of the Cooking Club, "Pressure cooker… Is there anything else?

"Haha, the rest is a secret. If you want to know, join our club!" President smiled cunningly.

"Cooking Club… Ichika, would you be happy if my food's good?" Charlotte asked, her eyes were filled with hope.

"Hmm? Yes, I would." Not wanting to waste his time to explain that cooking isn't what's important right now, Ichika just said what Charlotte wanted to hear.

"Is… Is that so? I see… Ehehe," Charlotte smiled radiantly as she heard Ichika's answer.

And with that, his rest time with Charlotte ended.

* * *

"Speaking of which, Cecilia, I remember you did participate in violin contest while you were in England this summer, am I right?" Ichika asked.

"Um… yes…" Cecilia immediately stiffened. She was afraid that he's going to ask about results… The truth was – she got third place, not bad at all, but she was afraid to disappoint Ichika because she didn't win. _'He… he wins no matter what he's doing… if he'll learn…'_

But actually Ichika knew the results, and, moreover, he had no intentions to talk about that contest. In fact, "You know, I really like violin… how about you'll play for me?" He asked.

It only worsened the situation, as now Cecilia was panicking. _'If he would like my playing – that definitely will be a point in my favor… but if he won't like my play?!'_ In the end, she decided to refuse. "I'm… I'm sorry, Ichika-san, but my hands are tired… I'm afraid I can't do my best…" She mumbled humbly.

"Understood…" Ichika sighed. "Then why are we here?"

"Well, actually, I wanted to try something different…" She said as she tugged at Ichika's arm and pointed at the classroom that had the sign 'Wind Instrument Society Experience Stall'. "Why… Why don't we go try it out now? How about it?" She asked.

"Alright," Ichika shrugged, "Let's see what they have to offer."

"The… Then, let's go in!" Cecilia exclaimed with enthusiasm.

"Hey, no need to pull me that hard," Ichika noted as he followed her.

After opening the door, they saw the President of the Wind Instrument Club. She was pressing down on the piston of the instrument to check its condition for lubricating it.

"Excuse us," Ichika called for her to get attention.

As she heard someone's voice, the Club President who just noticed her club's guests, lifted her head up. "Oh! Oh! The sixth guest is finally here! Here, here, please come this way! Huh, isn't this Orimura-sama?! Orimura-sama himself came to our club!?"

Facing the smiling Wind Instrument Club President who was almost glowing with joy, Cecilia coughed dryly to get her attention. "Nnh! Which instruments can we try out here?" She asked.

"Hmm? You can try out all of these here. Personally, I recommend the French horn. It feels great when I blow it. The sound fluctuates," Wind Instrument Club President suggested.

"Hmm, no, I'd like to try the Trumpet," Ichika asked.

"The Trumpet? Alright," President shrugged as she passed the aforementioned instrument to Ichika.

Ichika took the instrument. "Well, try it out," President said, "You should put your finger…" She tried to explain how to use the instrument.

"Wait," Ichika interrupted her as he closed his eyes. "Let me remember how Lois Armstrong was doing it…" Of course Ichika didn't try to play Armstrong's melodies, just use his techniques.

""Hmm?"" Both girls looked at him in surprise.

But Ichika ignored them, then, with his eyes still closed, he brought instrument to his mouth and began to play. Cecilia easily recognized that melody – "London Bridge is Falling Down". Ichika played for about 30 seconds.

"Orimura-sama!" President exclaimed as Ichika stopped playing, "I didn't know you are playing Trumpet! You're really talented – you should join our club!"

"This is the first time I took the Trumpet in my life," Ichika replied. "I just saw Lois Armstrong's concert a while ago, and I just remember how he was doing it."

President was looking at Ichika with his mouth wide-open. "…You… can do that… just like that…?"

Cecilia didn't seem surprised – she already knew about Ichika's ideal perception and perfect memory. But she still couldn't get used to it…

"Hey, Cecilia, are you listening?" Ichika's voice distracted her, "How about you, Cecilia? Want to try it?"

"Me?! Ah, well, I only know how to play stringed instruments. I've never played wind instruments before…" She said humbly.

"Really? I find that you're really suited to play the flute. There's that grandeur noblewoman vibe from you," Ichika said, he wanted to encourage her a bit.

"Grandeur noblewoman..." For some reason, Cecilia muttered blankly as she continued to repeat these words, flushing heavily.

"Anyway, here, try it," Saying that, Ichika passed the Trumpet to her.

"Huh? Tha… That's, is that, well..." Cecilia was mumbling "…it's indirect… indirect kiss..." She pronounced those words silently, but Ichika managed to lip-read her words and got strong desire to facepalm.

"Cecilia-san, is something wrong?" President asked.

"No, nothing! Nothing at all!" Blonde replied quickly. Cecilia started panicking as she waved her hands wildly, and then stared intently at the Trumpet. She looked extremely serious before saying, "Th… Then, I'm blowing..."

"Ah, we must change the mouthpiece. Here, please," President suddenly suggested.

"Ahh..." Cecilia yelped as if someone scared her.

"Hmm?" President looked at Cecilia questioningly as she changed the mouthpiece on Trumpet that Cecilia held.

"..." But she got silence in response as Cecilia glared at the President who casually decided to change the mouthpiece.

"Here, please," President said as she finished her task.

"No need!" After saying that, Cecilia passed the Trumpet back to the President and quickly headed out to classroom's door. Ichika just sighed and followed her, leaving flabbergasted President of the Wind Instrument Club all alone.

"Really, how stupid that girl is...!" Cecilia complained as she and Ichika were already outside.

"Oh, for Heaven's sake, Hetare Ichigō, you really missing that 'indirect kiss' so much? Than have this one," Ichika said as he grabbed blonde by the back of her neck and kissed her in the lips. Their lips were in contact for about 8-9 seconds. After Ichika released her lips, Cecilia looked like she was struck by lightning. "Sorry, but I think that first kiss should be the real one. Now, you can stay here like paralyzed for about half an hour, but after that, you should return to work," Ichika said and headed to where Houki was already waiting for him.

Just like that, Ichika's rest time with person, from who he just stole her first kiss, came to an end.

* * *

"So, where are we going?" Ichika asked as he met Houki.

"Oh, yeah… where's a good place…?" She replied uncertainly, seemingly, despite that she had half an hour to think about, she didn't decide where to go with Ichika.

As such, Ichika decided by himself, "Okay, what's the Kendo Club doing? It's a rare chance, so let's take a look."

"Wha… What?" Houki sounded a bit shocked.

"Huh, look, it's right there," Ichika pointed at classroom near the end of the corridor.

"Ho… Hold on! If I go to the Kendo Club…" Houki tried to protest.

"Okay, okay, here we go," Ichika grabbed her arm and headed towards that classroom.

"Hey! Don't grab my hand! I'll go there on my own!" She tried to break free, but Ichika didn't let her go as he was pulling Houki, who was resisting forcefully for some reason, and headed to the classroom where the kendo stall set up a shop.

"Welcome," It's a room with black cloth draping all over. A mysterious person fully covered in armor's waiting in the darkness. "Oh my, so it's Orimura-sama himself and the phantom member Shinonono-kun."

"Is… Is that the President? Wha… What's with that get up...?" Houki asked uncertainly.

"Hmm, at first, it was just a kendo experience stall, right? But nobody would vote, right? So I just decided to cast divinations?" All three phrases sounded like questions for some reason. "But there's nobody around at all? No customers here? I couldn't think of anything, so I full on full kendo armor to try it out?" Those are still questions. "Then, let me tell your fortunes. Ah, sit down, sit down."

Houki and Ichika were asked to sit down on the chairs, and Ichika could hide skepticism in his eyes no longer as he was looking at the Kendo Club President. She was holding some hanafuda [Japanese playing cars] in her hand... "Is that Hanafufa...?" He asked, though answer was obvious, "Ain't you're going to use tarot cards for divination?"

"I prefer hanafuda divinations, you know?" President said.

"Well, Prez? I've never heard of that before..." Houki scratched back of her head, she sounded confused.

"Hmm? I just named it, you know?" President replied, it seems that she's really a lost cause.

"Okay, here we begin, alright? I'll take your fortune in love, okay?" The President said assuredly as she started her divination. "Hmm… Orimura-sama's the 'Rain Four Lights'. So, do you have any difficulty with girls?"

"I'd say it's the opposite," Ichika replied with irony. In his opinion she could use the used car tires for divinations with about the same chance of success.

"You don't believe in fortune telling?" President asked Ichika.

"I do believe that in this Academy only I can see future," Ichika smiled as his eyes flashed in darkness.

For about 30 seconds only silence could be heard in this room. "Then… well… okay…" Finally, Kendo Club President came back to her senses "…I'll take the love fortune for the Kendo Club phantom member Shinonono-chan, okay?" By the way, why didn't the Club President lash out at Houki for her low attendance?

"Huh… Shinonono-chan, you got the 'Tsukimi-shu'. So, you're looking forward to activities, right? Your lucky point is the dojo?"

"No, well… I'll try my best to show up..."

"Really? I'm really happy to hear you say that."

And with conversation like that, Houki's divination was done.

"Ah, that's right. I'll see your fate through divination, okay?" President asked.

"Divination of fate? Is… Is that so? That's good!" Houki got worked up suddenly as she popped out.

The President calmed Houki down and explained, "Ah, can you two hold each other's hands together? At each other?"

Ichika sighed deeply, but it was Houki's 'twelve minutes of happiness' so he did as President asked. He and Houki reached our right hands out and put them at each other.

"Then, can you maintain this position for ten seconds?" President wondered.

"Ah? Can… Can this really tell what's going to happen?" Houki asked the President in a slightly nervous tone.

"Well, you see, you'll feel irritated if you put your hands together with someone you don't like for ten seconds, right?" President asked. "So you don't hate each other? Okay, divination's over."

Actually, Ichika did feel irritated, but not because of Houki, who somehow didn't notice how cold Ichika's right arm is… On the other hand, he could feel that Houki's really happy. That girl's hopeless, Ichika could lip-read that she repeated "…compatible, compatible…" several times.

"Houki," Ichika called for her, "You can let go of my hand now."

"Tha… That's right!" Houki finally realized this after Ichika reminded her, and the hand that was holding tightly onto his quickly backed away.

"Bye then. I have last one person to meet…" Ichika said and headed away as his time with Houki has come to an end.

* * *

"You're too slow!" Standing on the corridor and waiting for Ichika with her arms folded was the maid with the eyepatch, Laura, "Your sense of time is too weak!" Ichika didn't reply anything, he just approached and flicked her nose. "Ah!" Laura yelped as her cheeks quickly flushed.

"Actually, I came one minute earlier, which is rare feat for me, so be grateful," He replied. "Now, I remember you wanted to go to the Tea Club, right? Okay, let's go then," Ichika said as he took Laura's hand and headed towards Tea Club. By the way, each club in I.S. Academy needs a curator, and Tea club's curator is no one else but Chifuyu…

"Do… Don't hold my hand!" Laura immediately tried to shake her hand off after saying that, and her face blushed more, but Ichika didn't let go of her hand.

"Sorry, darling, but this time I will act according to your desires, not your words," Ichika said as he clenched Laura's miniature hand more tightly, "C'mon, we have little time." Ichika already learned that she likes 'strong arm', so to say…

"Hey, wait!" Laura exclaimed as her face was completely red now.

"No time to wait," Ichika replied as he literally dragged Laura into Tea Club, though he released her hand just before they entered, to not let Tea Club members see them holding hands.

"Hello and welcome... ooh! It's Orimura-sama! The Tea Club's opening a Green Tea experience session. Please head to this tearoom!" Tea Club President, who's dressed in a yukata, greeted her guests. It was the same as with the Cooking Club. Every room had proper facilities. As expected of I.S. Academy, where so many people wanted to get in. "Then, please sit here." Following President's instructions, Ichika and Laura took off their shoes and sat on the tatami. "We don't demand that you adhere to the tea tasting customs, so please enjoy," The Club President smiled as she passed the sweets to Laura and Ichika.

"Ah, okay," Ichika took one and ate it. The sweet white bean paste quickly spread on the tongue, "Well, it's not bad at all."

"Uhh..." Laura, on the other hand, didn't eat the sweet, but looked like she was in a dilemma.

"What's wrong?" Ichika asked.

"Well… Well, how do I eat it?" Laura got a little rabbit that's made from white bean paste, and the face looks cute. The rabbit seemed to be staring back at Laura, and seemingly it was saying to her 'Please eat me' or 'Please let me go', hard to say which one exactly… Seeing Laura's reaction, it's possible to guess that it's the former.

"Laura, you can't take the green tea if you don't eat the sweat," Ichika informed before adding quietly, "That's why I don't like green tea…"

"Ah… Is that so…" After Ichika prompted her, Laura decided to eat the rabbit-shaped sweet in one go. She just doesn't want to see the half-eaten rabbit? "Oh, Japanese sweets are really good." What happened to that struggle? Laura looked really happy as she continued to eat the sweet.

And then, the President served tea in front of Laura and Ichika, "Here."

"Many thanks," Ichika replied.

"But it's really unbelievable. A butler and a maid sitting on tatami and drinking green tea," President noted.

"Fuh, don't you feel that this outfit is too girlish?" Laura asked, addressing Ichika.

"No, but I remember that you looked really awkward when Chifuyu laughed at you crazily," Ichika smiled.

"Sh-Shut up! The Instructor's another case altogether!" Laura immediately protested as her face flushed again.

Ichika recalled Chifuyu saying that she wanted to come over to take a look, and just burst out laughing on seeing Laura in a maid outfit, happily enjoying that scene. At that time, Laura looked like a recruit who got a water gun as armament and yet got deployed to the frontlines.

"Relax, I know my sister, alright? She laughed because she actually liked your looks, not because you were laughable," Ichika explained. Actually, Ichika thought that he knows why Chifuyu likes Laura so much – she sees herself in that girl, sort of. Socially awkward, reticent… But each time she sees Laura becoming more sociable, it reminds her that she too ain't hopeless… Ichika waited until Tea Club President turned away and said quietly, "By the way, thank you, Laura," And kissed her cheek.

For a moment, Laura's eyes became saucer-wide, then her face became beet-red and she flew out from Tea Club like a bullet.

"What happened?!" Tea Club President asked in surprise.

"Nothing special, she just remembered something," Ichika replied casually. "Can you serve me a cup of Ceylon black tea, will you?"

* * *

Class 1-1's stall is still as busy as ever, and Ichika returned back to the scene where there's a lot of people squeezing through. Ichika escorted few more customers to their tables, and then…

"Ichika-sama!" Tatenashi's youthful vibrant voice sounded in classroom once again. The person who promised to cover for Ichika and escaped, yet she dared to show herself once again.

"What do you want?" Ichika asked quite rudely.

"Hey, no need to be rude!" Tatenashi protested, "I just want you to help the Student Council with an event." She opened her fan, hiding her smile behind it.

"Can't you see that we're busy here?" Ichika waved her off.

"Busy with what?" Tatenashi smiled cunningly, "Look, here's almost no customers left!"

Indeed, Ichika used his emperor's eye to reassess the situation, and he noticed that most of the customers, who was waiting in queue, suddenly disappeared. That girl's definitely up for something, again. "What is it this time?" Ichika sighed.

"No need to sound so disappointed before I even told you what to do. C'mon, it's a play," She continued to persuade Ichika.

"A play?" Ichika asked skeptically.

"A play where the audience gets to take part," Tatenashi added.

"That makes no sense," Ichika replied.

"Well… sempai… We'll be troubled if you take Ichika away..." Charlotte humbly said.

"Charlotte-chan can come along too," Tatenashi replied, "Onee-san can let you wear pretty dresses, you know?" Ichika prohibit her to call herself 'onee-san' when talking to him, but for the others…

"P… Pretty dress..." Charlotte mumbled, "Then… Then, well... just a little…" Charlotte fell into Tatenashi's trap.

"Ah! So honest and cute! Then, Houki-chan, Cecilia-chan and Laura-chan, come over as well," Sarashiki announced.

"""What?""" The three girls who pricked their ears to eavesdrop answered with a tone of surprise, simultaneously.

"I'll let everyone wear pretty dresses," Tatenashi smiled cunningly.

"If… if that's the case..."

"Oh well, a trip's..."

"Oh, alright, it can't be helped..."

Houki, Cecilia and Laura also fell into Tatenashi's trap.

With that, if Ichika will refuse to participate – he's risking to remain all alone here… "Oh well," He sighed. "But only this once, because it's anniversary…" In the end, Ichika promised his sister to be nice today, he couldn't break promise given to Chifuyu…

"Yay!" Tatenashi exclaimed joyfully.

"So? Which play it's going to be?" Ichika asked.

*Pak!* Tatenashi-san opened her fan, and there's the word 'Hakugeki'. "Cinderella!"

Ichika couldn't suppress desire to facepalm.

* * *

"Ichika-sama, are you done yet?" Tatenashi asked.

"More or less," Ichika replied without enthusiasm.

"I'm opening the door," She announced.

"What, aren't you all dressed up already? What's with that outfit?" Tatenashi asked as she saw Ichika dressed into his JSDF commander field uniform. Right now, they're in the fourth arena changing room, where people normally change to their I.S. suits.

The costume given to Ichika... Well, it's actually a prince's outfit... But he decided to not wear it. "Ichika-sama, you have to wear prince's outfit, it's for the play!" Tatenashi exclaimed.

"It's hinders my movements because it's off-size, I'm not wearing it," Ichika replied indifferently. It was written in his cold eyes – _'if you don't like it – I'll gladly leave…'_

"Oh, alright," Tatenashi gave up. No matter how much she didn't want to agree – she knew that she can't force him to do anything. "But at least wear this, the crown," She gave Ichika the aforementioned item.

"Alright," Ichika sighed and took the crown.

"Why, you don't look too happy. Do you want to act as Cinderella?" She asked joyfully.

"Don't try my patience," Ichika's eyes flashed with scarlet light.

"Okay, okay, it's time to act," Tatenashi quickly said.

The stage on the fourth arena's really well-built. Of course, it's full of people, and Ichika could hear cheering from inside the changing room. "Alright, now, may I take a look at script? I doubt it's a classic version…"

"No problem. I'll be the one hosting, so just perform as I say. Ah, please come up with your own lines," Sarashiki explained.

"My own lines? Are you sure?" Ichika's asked with irony?.

"Well, you're not going to use foul language…?" Sarashiki asked with some notes of uncertainty.

"No," Ichika snorted and headed towards the stage.

"Then, let's begin!" Sarashiki announced.

The buzzer sounded, and the lights reined in. "A long, long time ago, in a certain land, there was a girl named Cinderella." Tatenashi was speaking via acoustic system, and that sounded like a normal beginning. But Ichika was certain that here's something wrong… "No, that's no longer a name," Sarashiki continued. "Having snuck out of many parties, they defeated many enemies no matter how much dust they got. The title most suited for them is… 'Cinderella'! Tonight, the bloodthirsty Cinderellas will again take action. The girls will aim for the neighboring country's military secrets that are hidden in the prince's crown, and they shall dance on this death arena called the stage!"

 _'Yes, that's more like one of Tatenashi's senseless ideas,'_ Ichika rolled his eyes.

"Got you!" With a sudden cry, Rin appeared in a silvery white Cinderella dress, "Hand it over!" Rin glared at Ichika, and threw the Kunai into him.

Ichika easily caught Kunai with his left hand, between index and middle finger. "Seriously? You want to fight me?" Ichika actually looked at Chinse girl in surprise, but Rin seemed determined. She swung her leg in attempt to hit Ichika, but of course her leg got caught and Ichika lifted her up, as he now held her upside down.

"Don't look! Let me go!" Rin screamed as, since she was upside down, her own dress covered her sight, at the same time revealing her panties.

"Shut up," Ichika replied as he turned around and threw Kunai somewhere towards window of decorative castle tower. In the next moment sound of broken glass and female's scream could be heard. That was Cecilia, she was hiding on that tower with sniper rifle but of course emperor's eyes noticed her and Ichika broke lens of her optical sight with kunai.

"Hetare Ichigō, done." Ichika said as he knew that without her sniper sight Cecilia is no longer a threat – she's useless in close combat. Then Ichika took away Rin's glass shoe, released her leg (she fell on floor) and then took her second shoe. "Hetare Nigō, done." He said as he threw both shoes into the darkness behind the scene – now Rin was armless. She now was lying on scene disoriented because she was held upside down.

"Now, darling, maybe you can tell me – why you people want this crown so badly?" He easily noticed another Cinderella hiding in a bush. "For simple play you are too motivated, everyone knows that attacking me is almost a suicide, yet all of you are here…" He jumped down from scene and approached Charlotte.

"Ichika-san… well… ha ha…" French girl left her hideout, laughing nervously. Only the female actors knew the secret prize, and that is _'The girl who get the crown from Ichika will get the right to stay with him'_.

Even though everyone was stunned when they first heard that, "The Student Council President has the authority to do that," Tatenashi confirmed. On hearing her words, everyone got motivated. Of course that cunning girl knew perfectly that no one will be able to get the crown, so why she's doing it is unknown. Could it be that she just wanted to entertain Ichika, because those hopeless attempts to get the crown were quite funny.

"You see, the one who get the crown, she…" Charlotte began to talk but Tatenashi's voice interrupted her.

"If her plans will be revealed, prince's servants may take countermeasures, and all Cinderellas' efforts will be for nothing!" Sarashiki announced. Charlotte gulped, Tatenashi's threat was quite clear – if she'll tell Ichika – no one going to get the prize. Worst of all – she, Charlotte, was the only girl who actually lived with Ichika (at least as well-known fact), and if game (and prize) will be canceled because of her – other girls may decide that she did it intentionally, so she could remain the only girl who lived with Ichika. That would be bad…

"Oh, so she scared you?" Ichika asked as he looked at Charlotte with his cold-as-hell smile. "It seems you still didn't understand who among two of us is scarier, hmm, Hetare Sangō? Then let me show you…" And before Charlotte could understand what's going on – something fell in few meters beside her. In the next moment she was blinded by extremely bright flash of light and heavily stunned. Actually, that was a simple M84 stun grenade. "She said that all Cinderellas are my enemies… you know how I treat my enemies, nothing personal…" That were last Ichika's words as he vanished before ability to see began to return to poor girl.

"Cinderellas met unexpected troubles! Cunning and merciless prince guards his secrets well!" Honestly, things just got really bad. Tatenashi really sounded excited.

Ichika walked around castle wall, that play started to become boring, but he wanted to know why all these girls want that stupid crown, he wanted to know which idiotic idea visited Tatenashi's head this time. However… suddenly, the black-haired and silver-haired Cinderellas appeared in front of him.

"Hold it right there, Ichika!" Houki shouted.

"I'll take the crown!" Laura demanded.

Houki's wielding a Japanese sword, while Laura's holding a combat knife in each hand...

"Oh," Ichika's eyes flashed as he looked at two girls, "So you think that you have a chance against me in close combat? Even if here's two of you against me?"

"Shu… Shut up! These dresses are closed, you can't see anything!" Houki shouted.

"True, but kendo armor's even more closed… have you won even once?" Ichika smiled. He then turned to Laura, "Only person in this world who can defeat me in sword combat is my own sister – Orimura Chifuyu. You think of yourself as of her equal?" Ichika wondered.

Both girls now seemed angry but greatly discouraged.

"Ha ha, see?" Ichika laughed, "I haven't done anything yet, but you two already lost half of your determination and confidence. I even didn't get my weapon, yet you already lost this battle…" Sheaf of white particles appeared in Ichika's right am and moment later he held his fantasy-like sword, decorated with angelic wings. "But if you're still want to fight – by all means, go ahead, I'll gladly train my right hand…"

Two girls looked at one another and nodded. No, that was too good chance, they couldn't lose it without even trying. Letting out their battle cries, they both attacked Ichika.

But, just as Ichika said, they already lost significant part of their confidence and determination, so their moves were predictable even without emperor's eyes, besides, since both girls were loners by their nature, as a team they were hindering each other as much as helping… Ichika easily could parry all their attacks.

Suddenly, ground began to shake, as if it was an earthquake… "Now, everyone present can take part in this! Everyone, please work hard for the prince's crown!" Sarashiki announced, and that explained everything. The real reason for the earthquake was that more than ten Cinderellas came rushing over, and the numbers continued to increase...

"That girl really doesn't know where to quit," Ichika sighed.

"ORIMURA-SAMA, SURRENDER QUIETLY!"

"WALK WITH ME TO HAPPINESS! OUJI-SAMA!"

"HAND... IT OVVVEEERRR!"

Screams like those filled the entire 4th arena that was turned into stage. Seeing this, Ichika decided that it's enough, that foolishness came too far. Sheaf of white sparkles flashed in both his arms as his sword disappeared and six M84 stun grenades fell on the stage.

BOOM! All grenades exploded at the same time, blinding and stunning all girls around. About 20 seconds later, when blinding and stun effects began to fade, Ichika was nowhere to be found.

"WHAT HAPPENED!?"

"WHERE'S HE!?"

"ICHIKA-SAMA?!"

Cinderellas couldn't understand where did he go. But Ichika was no longer here, while fighting Laura and Houki he noticed masked hatch and he used it while 'crown huntresses' were under effect of stun grenades. Now he was below the stage sets.

* * *

Ichika walked out of the stage set and appeared in the changing room, this was the side room he was using to change his clothes before that 'spectacle'. His manager's uniform that he used in service café is still here.

Lights here were off, but Ichika knew that he's not alone here – someone was waiting for him. And since darkness means nothing to emperor's eyes he recognized that person – that was a woman who introduced herself as Makagami Ayako. Sitting on the bench, she was still smiling.

"Makigami-san? Can I help you with something?" Ichika asked.

"Yes, I want to use this chance to get your I.S., the infamous **Demon Queen** ," She's still smiling, and she hasn't changed her expression at all. "So hand it over immediately, brat."

"Hah, you're kidding, right?" Ichika said, he didn't seem confused or surprised at all.

"Why would I joke around with you, brat? You infuriate me!" Though the tone's completely different, she's still smiling at Ichika. Suddenly, she swung her leg, with intention to hit him. But of course she failed as she got caught by that leg and thrown away, and she crashed two benches with her body.

"Is that hurt?" Ichika asked. "Don't reply, I know it is. And don't be so surprised, I knew that you aren't the one you were trying to presume, in particular because 'Mitsurugi' [御剣, literally means 'Heavenly Sword'] company have nothing to do with I.S., it's a sushi bar in Sapporo, named after video game character."

"You… you damned brat!" She screamed hysterically as her face finally lost her smile... The long narrow eyes of this woman in front of Ichika seemed to be distorted because of the evil presence. She seemed like a snake every time she stretched her long tongue out. "I'll kill you!" As she creamed that, a sharp 'claw' appeared from behind the woman, ripping the suit in the process. The spider legs-like thing had ominous matching colors of yellow and black, each having a blade-like tip. The 8-legged armor deployed the tips of the legs, revealing cannons. But she wasn't attacking, she just stood there, as if waiting for something.

"Ha ha ha," Ichika laughed, he didn't seem scared at all. "Let me guess, you're waiting for me to deploy my I.S.? Oh, that's so sweet, but if you wouldn't be as much of a mindless bitch as you are, you'd notice that I actually don't have my I.S. with me right now…"

"What did you say?!" Seemingly she was on edge, Ichika's foul words hit her hard for some reason, "You little… where's your I.S.?! I'm not messing around, damned brat! I'm a member of the secret organization Phantom Task. And you must call me Autumn-sama, got it, you fucking kid?!" This woman, Autumn, was screaming like insane as she completely deployed her I.S.

"Phantom Task?" Ichika asked again as his eyes flashed, revealing two equally colored, blood-red eyes, glowing with scarlet light. Aura of oppressing power surrounded him. "I thought you're just a mere corporate spy… But since it turned out like this… then you won't leave this place alive, Autumn-chan," As he said this, Ichika took his crown and threw it towards Autumn.

Since it was just a fake crown, Autumn didn't recognize it as something dangerous. Her I.S. didn't warn her about incoming attack either. She was just intending to kick it away with one of her spider's legs, she didn't notice ' **Gula** ' plasma grenade, hidden inside it.

BOOM! Powerful plasma blast sundered half of the changing room as it threw Autumn's I.S. away and smashed it into opposite wall. "GAAH!" She screamed as her body hit the wall, she has the protection of _Absolute Defense_ , but the pain didn't disappear just like that. "YOU!" She screamed hysterically, "You'll pay for this!" But only reply she got was another plasma grenade flying towards her from the dust cloud.

BOOM! Second blast destroyed another part of changing room, collapsing the wall. However, Autumn's spider-like I.S. appeared quite agile – she quickly jumped aside right before the blast and then made an emergency maneuver, avoiding most of the shockwave's damaging force. It seemed that each armored leg that extend from the back could deploy PIC, and that I.S. mobility was nimbler and more complicated than any I.S. Ichika have seen until now. The movements were just like that of a spider.

"Not bad," Ichika said, he now was speaking with high iron voice, "This is **Arachne** , am I right? US I.S. which was stolen a while ago? It seems that this insect of yours actually is capable of something… Looks like grenades alone won't be enough to deal with you…"

"Shut you fucking mouth!" Seemingly Autumn was driven mad by Ichika's actions and words, she could barely control herself. Here was a disadvantage for Autumn – her I.S. wasn't equipped with thermal imager, so she couldn't see Ichika through all this dust, smoke and fire. On the other hand, Ichika somehow could see her pretty well, despite all those optical obstacles.

"I know that your idiotic organization stood behind my kidnapping during second I.S. Mondo Grosso. Because of you, my sister was humiliated and you made me look like an idiot… For that, seven of your operatives paid with their lives… Today, you will share their fate," Ishika's voice sounded from somewhere as dark violet flame flashed through the dust. Ichika activated his weapon, **Sitra Ahra** , in its first form – plasma blade **Invidia**.

Of course, despite **Sitra Ahra** could operate by itself, without support of **Demon Queen** it has limited capability, as overload mode and **Paradise of Darkness** One-Off Ability aren't available; besides, heavy plasma machinegun **Luxuria** and rapid-firing shotgun **Avaritia** have too powerful recoil to use them without I.N. support, and beam plasma cannon **Ira** wasn't designed to be used without I.N. at all.

As such, only plasma sword **Invidia** and sniper rifle **Superbia** , which is equipped with advanced recoil compensation system, are useful in current situation. But Ichika seemingly thought that this is enough to deal with his enemy. "I wear the chain I forged in life, I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it…" Ichika quoted _'A Christmas Carol'_ "I'm pretty sure that your chain is heavy enough to drag you right down to hell…"

"SHUT UP!" Autumn bellowed as two machineguns appeared on her hands, and she opened fire from all her weapons – legs-mounted cannons and two machineguns, she was firing towards where she saw flash from Ichika's weapon. All her weapons were using live ammunition. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

"You're so screechy…" Ichika noted, still with the same iron voice. The oppressive atmosphere that filled the half-destroyed changing room intensified. "I'll give you an advice for the next life," Ichika said, his voice sounded like from everywhere, "Don't make yourself an enemy that you can't handle… Now, do me a favor – just die." As Ichika said that, plasma fireball was shot from opposite side of the room. Due to smoke and dust Autumn didn't notice that sword turned into heavy sniper rifle. Though, seemingly, Autumn's I.S. warned her about that firing mechanism of Ichika's weapon was triggered, and she leaped aside, completely on instincts, thus avoiding direct hit as plasma blast made a breach in the wall right behind the place where Autumn stood just a moment ago. "You're not as pathetic as you look," Ichika commented. "Too bad, but it seems we have to take a break…"

"SHUT UP YOU PUNK!" Autumn turned around, and the 8-legged armor attacked the place from where Ichika made a shot. She sounded completely mad, one of reasons for that was that she didn't even scratched Ichika, yet her own I.S. shield was damaged quite a bit.

"Oh my, such a mess here. This is what happens when Ichika-sama enters the battle…" A delighted sound echoed in half-destroyed room, and that didn't match the current atmosphere. Looking over, Autumn saw a girl standing at the place where changing room's door was. Girl's name was Tatenashi Sarashiki, she was holding the fan in her hand like usual.

"What?! Who are you?! Where did you appear from?! All the systems here were locked down… well, I guess I'll just have to kill you too!" Autumn turned towards Sarashiki and attacked her with all her weapons.

"I'm the student leader of this school, so I have to do this," Tatenashi noted carelessly. Seemingly, she wasn't hit by Autumn's attacks.

"Ah?! What nonsense are you spouting?! Shut up and die!" Autumn screamed, seemingly Ichika did a good job infuriating her. At this moment, Autumn's armored legs pierced through Tatenashi's body.

"Sarashiki, you're late," Ichika noted as if nothing happened. "I remember the promise I made to my sister, but that doesn't mean I'll let some psychotic bitch attack me without fighting back." Ichika meant promise he made to Chifuyu to let Tatenashi deal with Phantom Task members if they appear on Academy's territory.

As of Tatenashi, even though she got pierced by two armored legs, she looked undisturbed. On a closer look, the spot the Arachne stabbed through didn't even leave a single bit of blood. "What's with you...? I didn't feel like I hit you...?" Autumn sounded confused.

"Ufufu," Tatenashi smiled, "I'm sorry for being late, but I had to assign others to patrol the academy, in case if this one isn't alone here," Sarashiki explained. At the next moment, her body collapsed. *Splash*, the thing that Tatenashi turned into spread out.

"You bastard… is that water?" Autumn growled.

"Good guess. It's called a water fake," The casual voice rang from behind Autumn. Tatenashi swung her spear at the shocked Autumn, who turned her head around in shock.

"Ku...!" Autumn screamed in pain.

"Oh my… Did I cut you too thinly? That I.S. of yours is really mobile," Tatenashi smiled.

Her I.S. is fully deployed and she's ready for battle. Tatenashi's I.S., **Moscow's Dense Fog** is really a unique one. The armor's narrow and small, it was definitely made with 'battle in limited space' paradigm in mind. The parts that didn't have the armor form a transparent wings-like surfaces made of liquid. It felt just like a water veil. The lady with a unique appearance that's surrounded in mist had crystal shaped items floating on both left and right sides, and they were really eye-catching. The objects called **Aqua Crystals** activated the screens of water that covered Tatenashi like a huge windbreaker.

"What are you?!" Autumn growled, every note of her voice was burning with hatred.

"My name's Sarashiki Tatenashi, and my I.S. is the **Mysterious Lady**. You've got to remember that," Student Council President introduced herself.

"Hah! I'll kill you now!" Autumn's voice sounded as psychotic as ever.

"Ufufu. That's really some classic line from a villain, which means I'll definitely win," And Sarashiki's voice sounded as careless as ever. After saying that, Tatenashi used the spear to attack. In contrast to Autumn and her spider-like I.S. that managed to attack continuously with eight legs and two hands, Tatenashi just used a spear to block them all.

"Sarashiki," Ichika called for Student Council President, he stood in far side of the room, leaning on his weapon, which now was deactivated. "As I said, I will honor the promise I gave to my sister, however… this one will NOT leave this Academy, neither dead nor alive. I hope I made myself clear…" Yes, his statement was crystal clear – if Sarashiki fail to deal with that bitch, Ichika will finish the job himself, even if it means to destroy half of the academy. His blood-red eyes, that was still burning bright, was the best confirmation of that statement.

"Shut up damn punk!" Autumn bellowed as she again heard Ichika's voice. "When I'll deal with that cocky kid, I'll rip you to shreds!" Drawing two daggers from her waist, Autumn turned all her armored legs on the back into firing mode to fight in long range, aiming at Tatenashi.

"That painless attack of yours isn't going to break through my water shield," The water veil blocked the live rounds of attacks that rained in like a storm, nullifying them. The bullets immediately lost their speed on entering the water veil, and stopped as they were captured by the water.

"It's just an ordinary water?!" Autumn screamed, seeing that all her attacks were in vein.

"Oh my, aren't you the alert one? This water's controlled by the nanomachines in the I.S. Amazing, isn't it?" Even though Tatenashi was saying that, she didn't stop moving her arms. She used the spear to skillfully flick away the two knives in Autumn's hands, and even used her legs when necessary as she completely nullified the opponent's attacks.

"Who in the world are you!?" That sounded as if Autumn began to worry.

"I won't introduce myself a second time. It's too troublesome," Tatenashi replied still smiling, but her eyes were different from usual… they were cold…

"SHUT UP!" Seeing her attacks getting blocked perfectly, Autumn started to feel anxious. Here's two kids against her, and she can't handle them?! Even though they're even not helping one another.

Tatenashi completely ignored her reaction as she avoided the enemy's attack with precision and a cold smile on her face. "Oh yeah. Do you know? The Student Council President in this academy is the strongest among students."

"How would I know that!?" Autumn screamed hysterically.

"Strongest?" Ichika asked, still with that high, echoing iron voice.

"Oh, but didn't you say you've graduated?" Tatenashi asked cunningly.

"Hmm… true…" Ichika thought aloud. Really, can he consider himself as an ordinary student now? Probably not…

"Stop ignoring me!" Autumn was infuriated once again. She threw the knife in her left hand and jumped forward to close her distance with Tatenashi. She grasped the moment Tatenashi deflected the knife and kicked the spear up.

"Oh my…" Sarashiki said as if she was a bit disappointed.

"TAKE THIS!" Four of Autumn's eight armored legs were in shooting mode, and the rest were in close combat mode as a fierce attack was launched.

"It's really tough to handle so many legs," Tatenashi noted tiredly.

"Hahaha! I'll see how long you can keep up that wretched mouth of yours! The strongest? Don't make me laugh, kid!" As what Tatenashi said, the eight armored legs gradually held down Tatenashi. Even though she had armor protection, the enemy's attack started to touch the I.S. main body directly.

"You're sure you don't want my help?" Ichika wondered. "Who cares if I'll melt down a room or two?"

"Just rest there, Ichika-sama. Leave this to Tatenashi-san, just give me your blessing…" She said calmly.

"Humph, kid! Weren't you being so calm just now?" Autumn finally broke through the bronze wall-like defense as she used the armored leg to kick Tatenashi. At the same time, she shot out spider web from both hands to rob Tatenashi of her mobility. "Haa… haa… you're really hard to handle, kid!" Autumn was breathing heavily, but seems she finally got the upper hand.

"Yup, seems like I can't move now," Tatenashi confirmed with smile.

"This is the end...!" Autumn announced with some hysterical joy. *KLANG!* The eight legs got ready and slowly closed in on Tatenashi.

But Tatenashi didn't look anxious or scared. "Hey, don't you find this room hot?" She asked with calm voice. "I don't mean the temperature, but the human touch temperature," Tatenashi clarified.

"Ah?" Autumn didn't understand what she meant. "What are you talking about...?"

"The discomfort level is decided by humidity – hey, don't you find this room's extremely hot?" Sarashiki asked with cunning smile.

"What?!" Completely shocked, Autumn saw that the entire room was full of mist, and her body was covered with this dense mist.

"Yep, I wanted to see that look on your face. The look when you know you got outwitted," Tatenashi smiled like a goddess, but this expression should be more like a deathscythe that clearly indicates the intention to kill. " **Mysterious Lady** … _'The Lady in the Mist'_ , this machine can control water freely. Like I just said, they're nanomachines that can use the energy of the I.S. to control water, right?"

"Da… Damn it…" Autumn finally understood her situation but it was already too late.

"Bye-bye!" *BAM!* Tatenashi made a snap with her fingers, and the next moment, Autumn's body got covered in explosions. "Aha. I didn't just explain my ability to show off or make fun of others, you know? It's just that I won't be able to see your shocked look if I don't explain it." The nanomachines that used the energy of the I.S. turned the mist into a heat source and blew up the target. This ability is called **Clear Passion**. Although, it might not be highly effective in wide space, this skill can be prepared while doing all other actions, so it's highly rated for being effective in practical battle.

"Guh… It's not over… no… not yet!" Autumn growled.

"Nope, it's over, right, Ichika-sama?" Tatenashi asked with smile.

Feeling a bad premonition, Autumn turned her head around to see Ichika standing just few yards away from her. "I haven't tested this mode yet, but this is why test subjects actually exist, right?" Ichika raised his plasma sword, " **Invidia: Cardinal Sin.** " As he said that, **Fold-Out Armor** on one of the sword's edges extended itself further, as another edge transformed, growing out small moth-like things along the entire blade, as **Invidia** switched into arc projector mode. "Repent, mortal creature. Earthly life is just prelude for another. The gates of Purgatory will be opened with my blade!" Ichika swung his sword, and blade emitted crescent-like, dark violet plasma charge, arc chord length was about 15 feet.

"Nooo!" Autumn raised the eight armored legs above her head to block Ichika's attack. But that was useless as heavy, modulated plasma charge smashed her I.S. into the wall and exploded, collapsing almost half of the ceiling on Autumn's head, and, definitely, forcing her I.S. to activate the Absolute Barrier. She was done for.

"Ara ara… so much destruction, even without I.S.," Tatenashi shook her head.

*Swoosh!* The sound of compressed air could be heard, and Autumn got away from her I.S. She used some sort of catapult as she flew up, into the breach in Arena's service room ceiling.

"You won't escape!" Ichika shouted as his blade turned to sniper rifle.

"Ichika-sama!" Tatenashi exclaimed, and this time her voice sounded really worried.

Autumn's I.S. began to glow, no doubts it was set for self-destruct. Ichika acted without delay – he aimed at glowing I.S. with his sniper rifle and shot, at the same time jumping away. Plasma fireball hit the target and exploded, completely wrecking damaged frame, but, most importantly, the electromagnetic pulse, created by chick, spinning charge of plasma fried all electronics of defenseless I.S., thus disabling the self-destruct mechanism. "Fight destruction with destruction," Ichika said as his eyes flashed, he Ignored Tatenashi's dropped jaw. "Now, where's that pathetic woman?"

"She… she got away," Tatenashi shook her head to get her thoughts in order. "She most likely took the core out before it self-destructed, leaving behind only the armaments and armor to self-destruct. Even so, that was reckless of her, she would have hurt herself had she failed. Still, it wasn't as reckless as what you just did…" Actually, Tatenashi wanted to cover Ichika from explosion with her water wings…

Ichika completely ignored last part of Tatenashi's phrase. "No one will get away!" He shouted as he looked around. "There she is!" He pointed somewhere up and to the south from their position.

"You… What are you saying… You… What!? You can see her?!" Tatenashi's eyes widened in shock. But mostly shocking was Ichika's eyes, as now not only blood-red pupils of his eyes were glowing, whites of his eyes were glowing with cold white light.

Ichika ignored her question, as he now was looking for a way to pursue Autumn. The hole through which Autumn escaped was collapsed when Ichika shot at her I.S. remains, so he and Tatenashi were in need for another way out. "Stay away, I'll make the way out for us."

"NO!" Tatenashi screamed as she understood what Ichika wants to do. She really sounded scared now. That was funny – Autumn didn't scare her at all, but Ichika did… "Structural analysis shows that arena's ceiling is barely holding, it will collapse on our heads!"

"Then give me an alternative, quickly," His eyes were shining brighter than ever.

"Here's a shortcut, we can use it to get to the surface," She pointed somewhere aside, as she unsummoned her I.S. "It's a service corridor, c'mon!" As much as she didn't want to pursue Autumn herself, it was absolutely obvious that Ichika won't let her go. She knew that other students are guarding Academy's perimeter, but one look at Ichika could tell – he's unstoppable now.

* * *

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Autumn was running through the I.S. Academy grounds, cursing everything and everyone in her mind. _'A simple job!? What kind of joke was that?!'_

Speaking of which, the attack for today's infiltration was meant to be carried out in the dorm room, but at the last moment they had to modify the plan drastically, because Phantom Task learnt that Orimura Ichika may leave Academy for weekend right after anniversary event's end.

 _'Speaking of which, I never liked that kid ever since she joined our organization…'_ She remembered the girl who always looked so haughty, thinking that nobody could match her, and that everyone was inferior to her. The one who devised that 'Infiltration' plan in the first place. Besides, she took significant part in the creation of the **Remover** , the device that Autumn had to use on Ichika to steal his I.S.

But in fact, Autumn didn't even get a chance to use that device. _'From where that damn bitch came from?! But even so… that punk… I couldn't even scratch him! He had no I.S., yet… And the girl who raised this plan said he's an easy target… She just made mockery of me!'_ That's what Autumn thought. _'I'll kill her! I'll definitely kill that brat! I don't care what Squall says!'_

Gritting her teeth in anger and regret, she found that she finally reached a park that was far away from IS Academy. _'Damn it… I'm thirsty. Is there water…'_ She looked around, and found a water cooler at the park. _'Anyway, got to deal with this thirst!'_ Autumn quickly walked to it. With a tap-turning motion, the water spurted up. She went over to ravage the water like a beast and continued to think of how she should kill that girl who just joined in. _'Slowly, slowly kill her… hi hi hi.'_

Still thinking about how she'll kill that girl, Autumn suddenly noticed that water ceased to flow. _'What's wrong? Is it faulty…?'_ Thinking that, she looked at the tap, but something unbelievable happened. The water spurted up wildly, covering the sky. "What!?" The water that rained down on Autumn like transparent curtain wet her clothes, but she didn't care about that. _'Is this… **AIC**!?' _ Though she immediately tried to back away, her feet that were about to move were stuck because of **AIC**. Due to the inertia exerted, Autumn fell backwards. "Damn it! Is that the German I.S.!?"

"That's correct, 'Phantom Task'," Laura's voice echoed silently. The icy pressure surrounded her, maintained over there. "Don't move. A sniper is aiming at your forehead."

"Ku...!" Autumn growled.

"Spill it out. Everything you know about your organization," As a soldier, Laura already had received information about this secret organization. Through the infiltration and the fact that they used I.S. units in battle, she understood that it was a really large group. "Your I.S. was a second generation one from the United States. How did you get it? Speak," Laura demanded.

"Dream on!" Autumn shouted defiantly.

The I.S. core technology was never revealed to the outside world. In other words, it could only be taken from somewhere. And because it would be a heavy loss on the national defense side, nobody would reveal that their I.S. unit got stolen. From the way they planned the theft of the I.S. and the capability to do it, this organization ain't to be underestimated. "Alright. I have lots of ways to carry out interrogations, so it looks like I need to spend some time with you."

As Laura said that and walked to Autumn, Cecilia said through the private communicator, "Get away! Another I.S. unit's approaching!"

"Wha...?!" Immediately after expanding the sensors, Laura's right shoulder got shot through. "Gaah!" Laura immediately took off the eyepatch from her left eye to activate the **Odin's eye** , the hyper sensor device. But it was tough as she had to dodge the next two shots.

"Laura, get away!" Using the trajectory of the shots, Cecilia was immediately able to tell where the opponent was shooting from, and aimed at the machine that was quickly approaching. "How did that happen… don't tell me…" Appearing in the focus lens that was used to see things far away was a machine Cecilia had seen once before. **Blue Tears** **Mark II** frame, **Silent Zephyrs**. It was a prototype frame that used data from the first frame, Cecilia's own **Blue Tears** , and it was equipped with BIT-type protective shields.

"What are you doing? Cecilia, shoot!" Laura shouted.

"Ah!" Blonde came back to her senses and immediately used her laser rifle to snipe, but as the enemy deployed the BIT-mounted shields, there wasn't any effective damage. Cecilia then released her own BITs, but they were shot down by the enemy, who used her own sniper rifle.

 _'Sniping down so accurately at supersonic speeds? And even the shooting was fast!'_ Cecilia was mystified, how's that possible that opponent's ability was better than hers, and the threat caused by enemy's BITs was very high as she could control all six of them at one go, sending Cecilia into a tough spot.

"If that's the case!" Blonde shot the missile BITs below, intending to let the enemy that was flying to defend before attacking, forcing it into a tight corner. Though Cecilia believed this, something unbelievable happened next. "Wha...!?" The curved lines that were drawn out in light took down the missile BITs.

 _'This is… a polarized control shot that can only be done when the BT weapon is moving at high velocity… How can there be such…?'_ The unbelievable scene that happened in front of Cecilia caused her to remain rooted there. _'Amongst all the I.S. pilots, my suitability with BT should be the highest. So, why!?'_

"What are you doing? Move aside!" Laura knocked Cecilia away, taking the BIT laser attacks instead of her.

"Wha…!?" After seeing the **Schwarzer Regen** armor has been damaged, Cecilia finally recovered, but by then the attacker was already beside Autumn.

"I'm here to get you, Autumn," **Silent Zephyrs** ' pilot said with calm, cold voice.

"Don't… you call me like that!" Autumn screamed in her usual hysterical manner, but she was simply ignored.

The **Silent Zephyrs** flew over and used her **Gatling Laser** to bombard small area in front of Laura, preventing her from approaching Autumn. Then she landed near Autumn, and used a pink laser blade to slice the **AIC** field apart, freeing the captive. "Is that all German enhanced genes have to offer?" Mysterious pilot asked. Her face was covered by a hyper sensor that acted as a cap, and only the lips could be seen. But Laura could clearly see a smirk on enemy's lips.

"Damn it… how did you learnt about that?!" Laura seemed shocked.

"I have no need to tell you, good bye," **Silent Zephyrs** ' pilot replied indifferently, she had somehow familiar manner of speech. The attacker grabbed Autumn and began to ascend, slowly, as if she enjoyed to look at others' helplessness. Her BITs were holding off Laura and Cecilia. And then…

Everything happened within few seconds.

"You won't escape!" Ichika shouted as he appeared as if from nowhere. He was holding burning plasma blade in his left hand. Then he raised his right arm, and arm itself shot towards enemy I.S. That wasn't a hallucination – part of Ichika's right hand (elbow and below) flew towards ascending enemy I.S. and grabbed one of its butterfly-like wings' end. Detached part of Ichika's arm was connected with the rest of his body via two black metallic ropes. And then, seemingly using some sort of winch, built into upper part of his right arm, Ichika pulled himself up, towards enemy I.S.

Ichika's right arm became whole again. Things that were happening right now were so unreal, so everyone who were seeing this fell into stupor, especially **Silent Zephyrs** ' pilot, as now she was staring right into Ichika's burning eyes. When she finally came back to her senses, he already raised his sword for attack, "I will not be denied!". There was no mistake – he was targeting defenseless Autumn, intending to slice her in half. At the last moment, **Silent Zephyrs** ' pilot moved Autumn away. Ichika foresaw it, but sadly, due to circumstances, he was holding a very heavy sword in his left hand, which, despite being his main hand, was far less powerful than his right. He couldn't adjust attack's trajectory fast enough to kill Autumn, but…

"AAAUUUGHHHH!" Heartrending scream could be heard even outside arena. Ichika sliced off Autumn's left leg, slightly above knee-joint. Since it was plasma blade, no blood was spilled as wound was burned.

Despite the fact that from aside Ichika's actions seemed reckless, he wasn't blinded by bloodlust, not at all. He understood that he lost his chance. "Next time I'll get your heads. Both of them," As he said that Ichika unclenched his right arm and it shot towards decorative castle wall. Metallic arm broke through the wall and grabbed at it, as Ichika began to pull himself towards it.

"You!" **Silent Zephyrs** ' pilot growled as she equipped her **Gatling Laser** and prepared to attack Ichika (she couldn't use BITs, they were still needed to hold off Laura and Cecilia) but Ichika's sword already turned into sniper rifle and dark violet plasma fireball was already shot towards **Silent Zephyrs**.

"Che…!" She swore as instead of using her gun she was forced to engage emergency evasive maneuver and turn around, to cower her defenseless passenger with her I.S. wings as plasma fireball exploded nearby. And after that she had to repeat those actions as another shot was incoming. For some reason, her enemy could easily predict all her maneuvers, leaving her no chance to at least turn towards enemy, she needed her wings to protect Autumn.

BAM! one of **Silent Zephyrs** ' BITs was destroyed. Tatenashi appeared from the same service tunnel and used her spear.

"Ichika!"

"Ichika-san!"

At the same time, thanks to destroyed BIT, Laura and Cecilia finally fell out of their stupor.

"Damn you!" **Silent Zephyrs** ' pilot swore as now she was in stalemate situation – she couldn't continue battle, at the same time protecting screaming and moaning Autumn. Time was against her, either. Amount of enemies was growing. And her orders were to retrieve Autumn, alive. She had no choice but to retreat.

 **Silent Zephyrs** turned around and flew back the way she flew in from. The remaining BITs that were holding off Laura and Cecilia immediately self-destructed after the mission. "Wat are you waiting for?!" Ichika asked with echoing iron voice. "After her!" He demanded.

"No, let them go, it's over!" Sharp and deep voice said, Orimura Chifuyu appeared on arena.

…But her voice fell on deaf ears. "You don't need to fight her, only track her down, I'll take my I.S. and pulverize them both," Ichika said as if he didn't even notice his sister.

Chifuyu looked at her brother sternly, but he continued to ignore her. She understood that here's no choice. She closed her eyes and made a deep breath. And again, just like during that volleyball match few months ago – everyone around could feel powerful aura from her, but unlike Ichika's aura of oppressive power, Chifuyu's aura was… inspiring. And then… "I said stop that. This battle is over."

Words came from Chifuyu's mouth, but her voice sounded not like usual – it sounded like beautiful, softly flowing melody. "Everyone, undeploy your I.S. units and power down your weapons. Pursuing the enemy is prohibited. Did I make myself clear?" She added, still with the same wonderful, melodic voice.

Laura and Cecilia did as Chifuyu said immediately, Tatenashi did so as well. They were like entranced with that voice, all three, they couldn't disobey. And Ichika… he slowly turned towards his sister. She was looking straight at him; her own eyes were sparkling. Moment later white, and then blood-red glow in Ichika's eyes dissipated, they regained their normal color. _'For real? **Voice of Haniel** …'_ Ichika thought. _'Am I really gone that far that she had no choice but to use her Archangel's ability?'_

"Everyone, to control section," Chifuyu said, her aura dissipated and voice once again sounded like usual, "I'll debrief all of you there."

"Orimura-sensei, on a few words, please," Ichika asked politely, high iron notes in his voice also were gone. He headed towards service tunnel, from which he and Tatenashi came from.

"What is it now?" Chifuyu asked as she followed her brother, her voice sounded very displeased. "Do you imagine how many questions those three just got thanks to the show you've put?"

But Ichika didn't reply anything. As soon as he and Chifuyu were out of Laura, Cecilia and Tatenashi's sights, he collapsed in complete exhaustion. Chifuyu barely managed to catch his body before he fell on the floor. "Ichika!" She exclaimed a bit worriedly before she understood what exactly happened. Seemingly, he used last bits of his strength to walk here, he just couldn't let himself fall unconscious in front of those girls. Only the most trusted person in the world was allowed to see that even Ichika's stamina isn't limitless. "Really, you're a complete moron…" Chifuyu sighed, "Using both of your _Archangels_ at the same time, fighting without I.S. support…"

Moreover, those three girls definitely want an explanation, especially Sarashiki. And something has to be done with horrible trophy Ichika got (Autumn's sliced off leg). Such a mess…

Honestly, she wanted to hit him, but he's already unconscious, so it's pointless, as well as scolding him. "Damn, you're so heavy…" Chifuyu complained as she threw her brother's body on her shoulder, not that it was actually difficult to carry him, but still… Obviously, Ichika didn't want anyone to see him like this, so Chifuyu had to deliver him somewhere where he could rest, and of course it's troublesome. Fortunately, due to level 4 alert all students (aside from several personal I.S. pilots) were ordered to sit tight in their rooms, which makes task a lot easier… Besides, two weeks ago Ichika helped het to get to the job in time when she overslept, time to return a favor, right? Chifuyu sighed again. "Alright, but only this once, young man," She said sternly, but her lips unwillingly curled into smile.

* * *

And this is it for now, see you all soon people.


	16. Daily Routine

Hello everyone. Here's the new chapter.

As much as I don't want to admit it – it's another filler, so to say, but I can't just jump to 'Cannonball Fast' out of blue.

For those who wrote a **review** :

 **Imperial-samaB, FateBurn, DarkBladerZX, Alex2909** : Many thanks people. I'm trying to make characters a bit less flat (I'm not meaning breast size) then they are in LN, and, especially, in anime.

 **Anikong:** Thanks man. And they soon realize, wait for Cannonball Fast event.

Now, let's proceed to chapter.

* * *

 **Chapter XVI – Daily Routine**

…

September, 17th, Sunday. 9:10 PM.

"…biomaterials, which we acquired during today's incident, will be sent for DNA analysis, in case the attacker decides to change her appearance," Chifuyu explained. Under term 'biomaterial' she meant Autumn's leg, which Ichika sliced off. Laura delivered it into laboratory (initially Chifuyu tasked Maya Yamada to do that, but when she saw severed limb she felt herself a bit sick, so Chifuyu had to ask someone with stronger stomach…)

Right now, Laura, Cecilia and Tatenashi were in control room with Chifuyu. "No doubts that both attackers were from secret organization 'Phantom Task'. Recently their activity drastically increased, they managed to steal few I.S. during last years," Orimura Sensei said. "In particular, two units that was spotted today were 2nd generation US I.S. **Arachne** and recently stolen 3rd generation I.S. made in Great Britain – **Silent Zephyrus**. How exactly they managed to steal those frames is unknown, but as you can see by yourself – they are not to be underestimated. Of course, this information is strictly confidential, you are not allowed to reveal it to anyone else. Understood?" She asked strictly.

"Yes, sensei," All three girls replied simultaneously.

"Any questions?" Chifuyu asked, intending to end this debriefing.

Of course girls had a ton of questions. About Ichika, his hand, his eyes… and about his sister as well, to be honest. The way her voice suddenly changed, girls remembered that as they heard her – they couldn't disobey, they couldn't even think – they just had to do as she said. Even Sarashiki. But all three knew Chifuyu's reaction on personal questions…

"Um, Orimura-sensei, where's… where's Ichika-san?" Cecilia asked humbly.

"He got a personal debriefing," Chifuyu replied dryly. She didn't want to lie, so she just answered like that – and it worked, all three seemingly decided that he's reporting to his JSDF superiors. "And I'm not eligible to discuss any personal information about Academy's students," Chifuyu added, to prevent any questions about Ichika's arm, eyes, insanity, etc… Of course, during summer trip she has told a lot, in quite casual manner, but today's situation was completely different – it was an official debriefing. All three understood what she meant – if they want to know something – their only option is to ask Ichika himself…

* * *

September, 17th, Sunday. 9:22 PM.

In a room of a high rise condominium, filled with luxurious furniture, Autumn was lying on leather sofa. She got an injection of medical nanomachines, which cleared the wound ('shear line', so to say) and fixed nerve endings, suppressing pain, but her left leg of course was lost for good.

"YOU DAMN BASTARD! WHAT WERE YOU DOING!?" Autumn screamed, she definitely was on edge of insanity. But only thing she got in response was silence; young girl, about 16 years old, with body that seemed quite petite even for her age, was looking at Autumn silently, her eyes were cold and emotionless.

"SAY SOMETHING! YOU SHITTY KID!" Autumn's voice was boiling with black hatred, she was mutilated, and seemingly she was blaming this girl in front of her as much as that guy, who actually mutilated her. In her blind anger, Autumn pulled out a knife and raised her arm, intending to throw that knife in this girl's face. "I'm going to scar that face of yours...!"

"Stop it, Autumn. You're too noisy," A woman with beautiful face, dressed in a bathrobe, walked out from the bathroom, and the light blond hair radiated under the light.

"Squall...!" Autumn gulped as if woman's appearance scared her.

"You'll get old if you always get angry. Calm down, Autumn," Woman called Squall said as she sat down on the sofa near Autumn. She was speaking as if nothing bad had happened at all.

Autumn glared at Squall with fear and regret. "You... now… with my leg…" She mumbled.

"Don't worry, Autumn, I know. But you're still my lover who's very important to me," Squall assured her, "Even though you lost your leg. I'll find the best specialist to make a bio-electric prosthesis for you, it will look like new."

"I, well, thank you…" Autumn's anger up till now got wiped off by the smile on Squall's face, and she blushed as she looked down. She looked like a girl who just met her first love.

Seeing her cute look, Squall again smiled happily. "Come over, Autumn. I'll make a bath for you. You're wounded and I believe you're really tired today, right?"

"Ah, thank you…" Autumn blushed even more. Seemingly, all her fears were dissipated when Squall assured her that she still loves her, for a moment she even forgot about her lost leg…

The girl looked uninterested as she stared at interaction of two women, _'Nonsense… just nonsense…'_ She knew that Autumn was just an insane bitch and Squall's just a mendacious bitch, but she didn't care. She joined _Phantom Task_ with her own reasons.

"M, please send your I.S. to service. The **Silent Zephyrs** was just stolen, and it's necessary to readjust it," Squall ordered. "I saw the record of your battle – opponent seems to be extremely dangerous and unpredictable, threat level is way higher than we expected, next time we shall devise our plans much more careful, probably some additional preparations are needed."

"I got it," After the girl called M answered, she closed the door. Alone in the corridor, she held onto the necklace on her chest and closed her eyes. _'Just a little more… Just a little more… It doesn't matter how powerful you are, Orimura Ichika, you will not stop me!'_ She thought. _'I've been waiting for this far too long, waiting for this moment to arrive. Then, my revenge will begin… that's right, finally… We'll finally meet… …Orimura Chifuyu…'_ With no one knowing it, the girl's lips curled evilly.

* * *

September, 18th, Monday. 10:18 A.M.

Ichika slowly opened his eyes. His body was strong, and with some help of his implants his physical stamina recovered several hours ago. But his mental exhaustion was an issue – to completely recover his mind required more than fourteen hours of sleep. Staring into the ceiling, Ichika sighed deeply, "Damn, it seems I really went overboard…"

Today's lessons were canceled as students had to clean up their booths and return all the equipment that they've borrowed, as well as get classrooms back in order. Probably, the right thing to do just now was to go and help the girls from class 1-1 to turn maid café back into normal classroom, but Ichika had no desire (and no shame) to do that.

He sat in bed and looked around. Nightgown, which was untidy lying on desk. Slippers that was lying about in the middle of the room. Overall disorder in room plus some familiar items – all that (and few other things) left no doubts – it was Ichika sister's room. Ichika was still dressed in his field military uniform. Chifuyu didn't even took off his boots… "Onee-chan… You're incorrigible…" Ichika sighed again as he jumped from bed.

* * *

There are many mysteries in this world… For example, here's one of them – there are those in this world, who possesses the essence of divine beings… Each one has essence of two beings, and there are only five such individuals in entire world, which appear once in a century…

One of them possesses powers of _Alarim_ **Zaphkiel** – Ruler of 3rd sephira, Binah; Lord of Understanding, the aspect of future. Also, she possesses powers of _Auphanim_ **Raziel** – Ruler of 2nd sephira, Chokmah; Lord of Knowledge, the aspect of devotion. The person, who possesses these essences, is _'Creator'_ … peerless genius, a bit insane and other-wordly.

Another one possesses powers of _Malachim_ **Raphael** – Ruler of 6th sephira, Tiphareth; Lord of Shining Beauty, the aspect of harmony. Also, she possesses powers of _Elohim_ **Haniel** – Ruler of 7th sephira, Netzach; Lady of Grace, aspect of victory. The person, who possesses these essences, is _'Graceful Light'_ … an undefeatable protector, blessed with unmatched beauty.

Third one possesses powers of _Seraphim_ **Kamael** – Ruler of 5th sephira, Geburah; Lord of Battles, aspect of holy wrath. Also, he possesses powers of _Chaioth_ **Metatron** – Ruler of 1st sephira, Kether; Lord of Holy Crown, aspect of 'gates of abyss'. The person, who possesses these essences, is _'Holy Cleansing Flame'_ … the relentless warrior, merciless and impossible to deceive.

Who are other two is yet to be known…

* * *

Getting sister's room in order (he just couldn't leave it as it was), Ichika was thinking about yesterday's events… _'…Archangels consume too much of my stamina… to think that I would collapse from exhaustion just like that…'_ He didn't forget that he passed out yesterday…

Despite all his implants and training, Ichika still was just a fifteen years old boy. Besides, it's not about physical stamina, mostly. _Eyes of Kamael_ , true form of his emperor's eyes, ability granted by his second _Archangel_ , consumes considerable amount of physical stamina. But biggest problem is his another ability – _Vision of Metatron_ , ability granted by his first _Archangel_ … In active form it drains huge amount of his mental energy. How to deal with that – this is the real question…

* * *

September, 18th, Monday. 10:50 A.M.

The bay's doors opened, revealing Ichika's 'personal chambers', so to say. Everything here was just as it was when Ichika left almost twenty-seven hours ago. It wasn't easy to get here, without being spotted by anyone, because if the'll spot him – it'll be much more difficult for him to avoid working in classroom. But mostly Ichika wanted to avoid meeting with three girls, who were involved in yesterday's fight against Phantom Task, especially Tatenashi… He knew that they all have a ton of questions, and probably he has to answer at least some of them, he just couldn't decide – which questions should get the answer.

Ichika approached his I.N. – **Majin Naamah**. She performed all required task, and now was waiting for him, for almost twenty hours. Now she was in sleep mode. Ichika touched her with his right arm, with his **Realizer** , to wake her up. Just as he did it, frame began to glow with dark violet light.

"Adonai, calibration complete. Plasma conductors fully operational," **Demon Queen** reported.

"Very well," Ichika replied. "Reestablish connection with primary armament," He ordered.

"Proceeding," **Demon Queen** began assigned operation. "Adonai, I'm detecting signs of extensive use of the armament during last twenty-four hours…" A.I. noted.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Ichika laughed ironically. "You've missed all the fun…"

"Have you suffered any damage?" A.I. asked. Unlike this core's previous personality, **Naamah** likes her master, and seemingly now she was a bit worried… ain't it touching?

"Only thing that suffered was my pride…" Ichika sighed. "I made a mistake. I underestimated our enemies' boldness. I actually didn't believe that they'd dare to show themselves here, in academy. But they decided to leave shadows too abruptly… and I don't know why. Yesterday's attack doesn't match the profile of 'secret organization', they really thought that yesterday's commotion would provide them with enough cover?…" Ichika definitely had more questions than answers.

"Primary armament connection reestablished. **Overload Mode** and **Paradise of Darkness** are available," **Naamah** reported.

"Then here's no time to waste," Ichika said. He raised his left arm and **Demon Queen** disappeared, taking form of black chain, wrapped around Ichika's left arm. Then beam plasma cannon **Ira** materialized on 'operating table'. Ichika sat on his throne-like chair, leaning on its back, and closed his eyes. Throne began to glow as more than sixty hornet-like mobile construction units woke up and soared into the air.

* * *

September, 18th, Monday. 11:05 P.M.

More than twelve hours of hard work, but now it finally has been done. **Ira** was finally equipped with active heat sink, beam focuser has been redesigned, cannon was ready for field test. Also Ichika made few adjustments to his plasma sword, **Invidia** , more specifically to its _Ark Projector_ mode, **Cardinal Sin**. The only problem was that he missed yesterday's dinner as well as today's breakfast, lunch and dinner, and now he was hungry as _Wile E. Coyote_ [Looney Tunes character].

 _'And where are all those annoying girls when I actually need one of them?'_ Ichika thought as he was walking towards his room in dormitory. Not that he was out of options – he could visit one of city's restaurants, for example. In worst case he could fly home and prepare a dinner for himself – if he'll be careful enough he won't wake up his sister. While choosing an option, Ichika reached his room. He at least wanted to change clothes.

"Ichika!?" But just before Ichika could open door to his room, neighboring room's door opened and Houki appeared on the doorstep, "You've just came back?! I've hear you was called for debriefing or something…" She actually seemed surprised, as she hasn't seen him since that idiotic 'Cinderella' play.

"Yep, and that was the longest debriefing so far," Ichika lied without hesitation, the excuse that Houki just suggested seemed pretty convenient. If she and other girls are thinking that he spent this day on naval base, reporting to his superiors about what happened yesterday – that suits him just fine. "Though, I also had to visit our R&D department, there was something I wanted to look at," Ishika added few details.

"Don't you think you should take a break from time to time?" Houki asked worriedly, "If you continue to work regardless of your own feelings…"

"Desperate time requires desperate measures," Ichika interrupted her.

There was something strange in Houki's behavior. She was unusually soft, talking to Ichika… No doubts, everyone in the school knew that there was an incident during anniversary event. Details were classified, and Tatenashi, Laura and Cecilia no doubts kept their mouths shut, but general information is much harder to hide. And seemingly Houki managed to add two and two, she understood that this incident was somehow connected to Ichika (because they all connected to Ichika).

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine," Ichika assured her. "However…" He suddenly got an idea "…is there any chance that you ware making dinner for yourself today, and you have something left?" He asked casually.

"I… I did…" Houki stuttered, she was a bit surprised with that question, "And here's something left – some fried rice and chicken with soy sauce, but…"

"That will do just nicely," Ichika assured her, "Can you… share with me…?"

"Of… of course!" Houki's face shone. She quickly put on table everything that left of her dinner. "Just let me reheat it…"

"No need," Ichika refused to wait as he took the tablespoon, which Houki-had-no-idea-where-he-got-from, and began to eat. Within one minute, right under Houki's shocked gaze, all her food disappeared.

"Ichika… what…" Houki was quite surprised with such an appetite.

"Don't mind that," Ichika waved her off. "Many thanks for the treatment." After he said that, Ichika was just looking at Houki with his heterochromic eyes. Honestly, that made her feel a bit uncomfortable… "Hmm, alright," Ichika said as if he decided on something. Though, he didn't say anything specific right now, he just thanked Houki once more, wished her good night and left her room.

* * *

In the meantime, Ichika entered his own room. "Ichika-sama!" Teasing and careless voice greeted him, "Other girls were saying that you were called to naval base and won't return today, but I knew you'll come back!" Despite she came here to talk about serious things, she still tried to keep that careless attitude, seemingly, initial shock from what she saw yesterday has passed. Tatenashi was lying on bed, which she used while she lived with Ichika.

Ichika wasn't surprised – he knew that she's here, and he already knew what to do with her. Even before she could stand up Ichika's right palm touched her forehead. Expectedly, her sight became unfocused, and she now was so obedient… "Just as you've been told, I didn't come. You fell asleep while you were waiting for me," Ichika 'programmed' her memories. "Now you going to sleep for at least nine hours." Then Ichika snapped his fingers, and few moments later Tatenashi fell asleep, just as Ichika ordered her.

"Damn, I'm using **Realizer** on her more often than on all others combined…" Ichika sighed, looking at sleeping Tatenashi. "What an annoying girl…" He sighed again as he sat on his own bed.

* * *

September, 22th, Friday. 8:10 P.M.

Evening, I.S. Academy kendo club. All members of the club already went to their rooms, so Houki was here all alone. She wasn't too sociable, so she preferred to train alone, besides, she was training using real katana – her family relic – and it would be dangerous to use it with other students around. Right now she was standing in the middle of the room with her eyes closed, 'tuning' her mind before training.

"Houki", Quiet voice called for her from behind.

"Yaah!" Houki exclaimed from unexpectedness as she accidentally threw her sword up and it plunged into ceiling, "Stop doing this!" She protested. Since Monday's evening, Houki had no chances to talk to Ichika. During practical lessons he was sticking closer to his sister, and by now all girls have learned that trying to chit-chat during Chifuyu's lessons is quite hazardous. And since there were no I.S. theory classes during this week (only practice), Ichika was vanishing after HRS just like a ghost. And now, out of blue, he himself appeared right behind Houki… She was quite surprised, to say the least.

"Tomorrow, wait for me near academy's main entrance at 7:55 A.M.," He said calmly, ignoring her startled expression. "Don't ask anything, I'll explain everything tomorrow. Avoid meeting any other girl on your way, and wear an I.S. suit…" Houki's eyes widened, but Ichika continued talking as if it was nothing special, "…and don't worry about Tatenashi, I'll take care of that." As he finished talking, he turned around and headed towards kendo club dojo's exit. "Oh, and that's not an order of course," Ichika added, "Just an invitation…" And he closed dojo's door.

 _'What the hell was that?!'_ Houki though, staying like paralyzed, staring at closed door. _'Did he… just… invited me… for a date?! No, wait! Calm down Houki, you need to calm down!'_ Houki made several slow breaths to calm down her wildly beating heart. _'He asked me to wear an I.S. suit… why?! But still… he told me to avoid others… does it mean… there will be only two of us?!'_ Then she accidentally looked up. Sight of her own sword, sticking out from ceiling, moved her out of her stupor. "Hey, wait, Ichika! Help me get my sword down!" She cried, looking back, but of course Ichika was long gone.

* * *

September, 23th, Saturday. 7:53 A.M.

Just as Ichika told her, Houki was waiting for him near academy's main entrance (seriously, she couldn't lose such a chance, even if it's definitely not a date…). She was hiding behind huge concrete arc with winged female figure upon it, trying her best to not being spotted by anyone. Houki came here beforehand, and now she was shivering a little, waiting for Ichika, she was dressed only in quite revealing I.S. suite, and September's morning wasn't too warm.

Two minutes later, exactly at 7:55 AM, Ichika appeared. He also wore his I.S. suit. Without delay he passed under concrete arc, leaving I.S. Academy's territory. "Houki," Ichika waved to her, "Come here".

"Good… good morning…" Houki mumbled, leaving her hideout and approaching Ichika.

"Yes, pretty good," Ichika agreed, looking at clear horizon, though he knew that this is not what Houki meant. "Just what we need. Deploy your I.S." Ichika ordered.

"What?!" Houki exclaimed, "Right here? But according to Academy's regulations…"

"Academy has nothing to do with that," Ichika interrupted her. "We're outside academy now, this is my territory. I give you permission to deploy I.S., proceed."

"O… okay, I got it!" Houki replied, louder than needed, as those notes of defiance again appeared in her voice. "Let's go, **Crimson Camellia**!" With bright flash of quantum transfer Houki deployed her I.S. Red I.S. with white panels was shining as bright as ever.

Within a moment, **Demon Queen** also appeared, as dreadful as ever, Ichika deployed his I.N. without saying a single word. "Follow me, it's not too far from here," Ichika said via I.S. private channel, "I'll explain everything as soon as we arrive." As he said that, **Demon Queen** soared into the air.

Since she already agreed to that, Houki had no choice but to follow him.

* * *

Actually, place where Ichika and Houki have arrived was quite far from Academy, they had to flew across the entire city and about 30 miles further away from their education facility. That was an old JSDF test site, which, in fact, now became Ichika's personal test site.

"What is this place?" Houki wondered, looking around. Here was nothing but rocks, some of which looked like they were destroyed by unnatural means.

"This is the test site JSDF command granted to me," Ichika replied. "I.S. Academy standard arenas aren't capable of withstanding my unit's firepower, so I'm using this place to commit live fire tests," He explained. "But that is secondary objective for today," He added.

"What… why you called me here then…?" Houki wondered.

"No, Houki, it's not a date," Ichika snorted with irony, "Even though here are only two of as – we're gonna have a very serious talk, and do quite serious things, and time is of the essence…" Though Houki was quite disappointed as she heard that their meeting here has nothing to do with a date, the way Ichika was talking prompted her to listen carefully.

"Houki, everything I'm going to tell now is strictly confidential, don't say anyone that we even had this conversation," Ichika said, looking straight at a bit scared girl, "Understand?" Houki just nodded, but seemingly that was enough for Ichika. "Listen then. No doubts that you've heard about so called 'incident' that happened during school anniversary festival. In fact, our academy was attacked by members of criminal organization, called 'Phantom Task'. That organization managed to steal several I.S. units from all over the world during last year. Their ultimate aim during attack on our academy was to steal my personal I.S. – **Demon Queen** …"

"WHAT?!" Houki couldn't hold it, but Ichika didn't let her continue.

"Doesn't matter, that attempt was utterly pathetic," He said. "Laura's pride and Cecilia's faith in her own abilities – those were our only losses, so to say; on the other hand, enemy lost one I.S. frame and one of their operatives was crippled. However, one thing I can say with 100% certainty – they won't stop. Which leads us to the main point of our today's meeting…" Ichika sighed. "You probably did notice that I had no I.S. during anniversary event, did you?"

"I… I wasn't sure… Houki replied uncertainly.

"Well, it's truth," Ichika confirmed, "I left her to perform quite long routine task… never mind. Nevertheless, during attack on academy, even without I.S., I managed to cripple one of enemy's operatives. In turn, they couldn't even scratch me. And I'm not bragging, I'm telling you this so you could understand one thing – even as stupid as they are, I doubt that they would dare to attack me again, when **Demon Queen** will be with me and ready for battle. On the other hand, I still think that they really want to get their hands on 4th generation I.S., and, aside from my own, I know of only one such machine…" Ichika looked right at Houki as he ended his monologue.

"You… you think they may… they may try to steal **Crimson Camellia**?!" Houki asked in shock as she unwillingly clenched her fists.

"I'm not sure, of course," Ichika shrugged. "But this is quite likely. Chifuyu seemingly thinks the same, that's why she asked Sarashiki to help with your training…"

"What?!" Houki exclaimed, "It's Chifuyu-san's request?!" Seemingly, Houki's feelings about that were quite mixed…

"Again, I'm not sure… she couldn't train you herself – it would've looked like favoritism… anyway, it's just my wild guess, it actually could be Sarashiki's idea in the first place, that girl definitely has ants in her pants… or panties…" Ichika shook his head. "Doesn't matter, and remember, we never had this conversation – it's all just my speculations. The training that you're getting – that's a concrete thing, and that's what I want to discuss with you today," Ichika concluded.

"My training?" Houki wondered, she seemed a bit at loss with all that Ichika's discourses, but when he finally got to the point, she got back to her senses. "What's wrong with it? I actually became much better since Tatenashi-sempai started to train me!" Houki announced somehow challengingly.

"I know," Ichika replied imperturbably, "And that's is our problem – you personally became better, but as an I.S. pilot you're not fighting alone – you're fighting together with your I.S.," He said. "Forgive me my forgetfulness," Ichika added with sarcasm, "When I saw you training for the first time, I 'forgot' to mention that if you're trying to improve your synergy with your I.S. – using manual control is the last thing you should do." Houki seemed at loss again, so Ichika decided to give more detailed explanation.

"On your training, Tatenashi forces you to control your I.S. manually. Indeed, it's pretty effective way to improve pilot's personal skills ant tactical thinking, but this is work for short-term outlook," Ichika explained.

"Short-term outlook?" Houki still seemed at loss.

"Yes," Ichika nodded. "I give you an example. If you will use your **Fold-Out Armor** and both weapons at maximum output, you will run out of energy pretty quickly, right?" Houki nodded reluctantly, so Ichika continued, "Now tell me, you think that your sister's really that incompetent to create an I.S. frame, which can run out of energy in the middle of battlefield?"

"What?! No, I… I have a **Gorgeous Dance** _One-Off ability_ to restore energy!" Houki exclaimed. Despite her relationships with Tabane, Houki felt some displeasure when Ichika called her sister 'incompetent'; seemingly, Houki thought that it's okay for her to badmouth Tabane, but not for the others…

" **Gorgeous Dance** has nothing to do with that," Ichika replied emotionlessly. "That ability's main purpose is to restore shields of your own I.S. and restore energy and shields of other units. Restoring energy of your own I.S. is just a side effect. Why am I so sure?" Ichika asked as he read that question in Houki's eyes. "Because main reactor of **Crimson Camellia** now provides only 32% of its design output."

Houki's eyes widened, "How do you know that?!" Normally, even I.S. pilot can't get access to such information without special external interfaces.

" **Crimson Camellia** herself told me," Ichika answered. Houki's eyes widened even more, so he added, "I.S. cores network, Houki. She told that to **Naamah** , and I learned from her…"

"Traitoress…" Houki mumbled resentfully.

"You're fool, Houki," Ichika snorted, "She's worried about you." Houki tried to reply something but Ichika didn't let her, "Shut up and listen. Manual I.S. control is good thing then you need to learn some skills. But when you're using manual control, I.S. core's working in passive mode, transferring your commands to frame directly. If you want to improve synergy with your unit, if you want it to evolve, if you want **Crimson Camellia** to achieve **Second Shift** one day and reveal her hidden potential, you should use manual control as little as possible. And this is why we're here today – while I will be busy with firing tests, you shall try to execute all those moves that you've learned to perform using manual I.S. control, but now you shall use I.S. navigation and built-in control systems," Ichika concluded.

Houki was looking at Ichika with saucer-wide eyes. Task that he set before her seemed impossible. "Don't be so surprised," Ichika noted, "If you really want to become Ace-class pilot, if you want to achieve **Second Shift** , your mind and your I.S. should be in complete sync. It is crucial that your I.S. core may control your frame just as good as you, as if replacing your spinal cord. Of course you won't be able to do it from first attempt, neither from second… 100th attempt may have some chances of success…" Ichika looked somewhere aside, "Of course, it's extremely difficult, but believe me – **Second Shift** is really nice thing, and such a things are never easy to achieve. And of course, I can't order you to do anything, I'm only offering an advice and some place to practice…" He added, waiting for Houki's answer. Ichika said everything he wanted.

That wasn't an easy question. Spending whole Saturday, training I.S. maneuvers… not the best way to spend a day-off. And doing entirely opposite thing to what Tatenashi-san taught her…

On the other hand – she's here, together with Ichika, far away from academy, away from her 'rivals in love'. Even though that's not a date… maybe this is her chance to become better pilot, to be noticed by Ichika? Naturally, Houki has no choice…

* * *

September, 23th, Saturday. 7:49 P.M.

"Alright, Houki, that's enough for today, let's head back to academy," Ichika said as he turned away from setting sun and looked at his I.N. clock. He already completed all his fire tests hours ago, so now he was just waiting, observing Houki's progress.

"No, wait!" Houki protested, "I almost did it!" She was trying to perform the same maneuver that Ichika saw her performing a while ago – she was flying in circles, then from her circular motion she was changing it to a straight motion, as if she wanted to break through the opponent's fire at one go and use her swords to slash the opponent. Honestly, her first attempts were horrible (she crashed into rock and/or fell into water several times), but now it looked acceptably.

"No, Houki, your energy's almost at zero, and I mean not only your I.S.," He refused to let her continue, "The point of this training isn't to perfectly execute one or another maneuver, but to improve your connection with your machine… and that has been achieved. **Crimson Camellia** 's operational rate just passed the 43% point, it's the first notable increase since that operation against **Silver Gospel**." Since summer, operational rate only increased for 0.3% (from 41.9% to 42.2%), considering that it's been two months since that – it's very mediocre result. But now it reached 43.1%; of course, the bigger the numbers – the more difficult to increase them, but still – 0.1% per hour – excellent result.

"Only one percent?!" Houki asked somehow desperately.

"Only?" Ichika looked at her with pity, "Houki, one percent increase after only nine hours of training – it's just an outstanding score, so to say. Usually it requires a week at best…" Most notably, reactor output increased by 1.3%, it's now 33.2% (comparing to previous 31.9%), it really was an outstanding progress, much better than Ichika anticipated. Seemingly, **Crimson Camellia** knows where she's lacking, and she's using her new experience to improve just that.

"A week!?" Houki exclaimed.

"Really. Alright, c'mon now, let's head back," Ichika ordered as **Demon Queen** soared into the air. Reluctantly, Houki followed him. "You're quite lucky, you know?" Ichika asked while they were flying.

"Lucky? What you mean?" Houki wondered.

"Because your I.S. seems to like you…" Ichika replied. "She seems to worry about you, and your sync rate grows extremely fast when you're putting your efforts into it… yeah, you're lucky indeed. My old I.S. hated me…"

"Really?!" Houki asked in surprise, "But you two seemed quite good…"

"No, more likely I was just forcing her to sync with me, with sheer power of my will alone, but in fact we were in disagreement about almost everything," Ichika explained. "This is why I had to rid of her in the end. I hope new pilot will be more lucky…" Ichika said, though he said that just so support his own false story. "Though, I don't really care now, we're in full agreement with **Naamah** ," Ichika patted his own shoulder.

Academy's lights already could be seen on the horizon. "Remember, Houki, keep quiet about what we're doing for now. You really don't need other girls to know that we spent entire day-off together, and if Tatenashi ask – even if she's a Student Council President – this is JSDF business that doesn't concern her."

"Yes… but I don't think she let me off the hook that easily – she'll continue to force me to train with her…" Houki said with grim face. Her next 'extra' training session was planned for tomorrow.

"That's not a problem," Ichika assured her, "In contrary – she still knows a lot of useful maneuvers, which you should learn to execute in manual control mode at first, anyway. Trying them without manual control… leave it to me."

"Alright!" Houki exclaimed joyfully "…ahem, I mean, of course… that should be useful…" She quickly tried to hide her happiness about being able to spent entire days-off with Ichika.

* * *

Houki and Ichika were walking together along their dormitory's corridor, not only because they are living in neighboring rooms, Houki also insisted that she should treat Ichika with dinner, because she is 'thankful'.

"Alright, this is out of all notch," Ichika snorted as he suddenly stopped in front of his own room's door. Houki looked at him questioningly but he didn't reply anything, just opened the door. "Shall I set up a few mines here?" He asked, addressing Tatenashi. "Braking into my room, and not alone but with friends…" Aside from Tatenashi, Cecilia and Laura also were here. Tatenashi was lying on unoccupied bed, Cecilia stood near Ichika's desk and Laura was sitting on windowsill (i.e. as far away as possible from Tatenashi). Seemingly – girls' patience ran out – all three girl that were involved into Sunday's battle gathered together and set up an 'ambush'.

"I'm sorry, Ichika-sama, but we really need to talk, and you're very hard to find person, so we had no choice but to wait for you here," Tatenashi explained, smiling.

"Ichika-san?" Cecilia definitely wanted some answers.

"Ichika, how could you hide such a secret from your wife?" Laura asked in her usual cold manner.

"Ichika, what are they talking about?" Houki wondered, "What secret?"

Ichika sighed, "Well, I guess I really should tell that story, to all of you… but not today. Since everyone will gather together next Sunday, I think it's a good chance so I won't be needing to repeat that story. It's not the funny one, you know."

"Next Sunday?" Cecilia asked, "You mean that 'Cannonball Fast', I.S. high speed battle race?" I.S. high speed battle race 'Cannonball Fast' originally was an international tournament, but the situation is a little different at the I.S. Academy – students participate in that special event that's held by the city specifically for them.

"No, I mean… wait," Ichika turned to Houki, who suddenly stiffened, "You didn't tell them, haven't you?"

"Didn't tell us about what, Houki-chan?" Tatenashi looked at Houki with one eye closed.

""Houki-san?"" Cecilia and Laura gave Tatenashi their full support in her question.

But since Houki paled and lost ability to speak, Ichika replied instead of her, "Next Sunday is my birthday." [I know, actually Ichika's birthday is Sept. 27, I just moved it slightly for my own convenience]

"WHAT!?" All three girls asked at the same time.

"Even you didn't know?" Ichika looked at Tatenashi. She's Sarashiki, after all, and Student Council President.

"Hmpft," Tatenashi snorted, "Wall of disinformation around you is just impenetrable…"

"It is as if your life starts from middle school," Laura confirmed, seemingly she also tried to dig for some info about Ichika. "Your middle school name, your rewards, etc. – everything is in public access. But before that – nothing…"

"And absolutely no personal information…" Cecilia said mournfully.

"Huh, but it seems there's someone here who already knew but stayed silent about it," Sarashiki noted as all three girls turned towards Houki.

"It's… it's not like I hid it from everyone! It's just that no one asked, that's all!" Houki exclaimed as she made a step back.

"Hey, don't blame Houki alone, split the blame between both of my childhood friends," Ichika interjected casually.

"That little…!" Cecilia exclaimed and quickly headed towards room exit. "I'm sorry, Ichika-san," Cecilia turned to Ichika as she remembered about good manners, "But I urgently need to speak with Rin-san, good night to you!" And blonde quickly left.

"We shall go too, right, Houki-chan?" Tatenashi grabbed Houki's arm, and that smile of her scared Houki quite a bit. "Rin-san's room seems to be a nice place to talk, c'mon. Good night, Ichika-sama!" Tatenashi waved her goodbye. Houki gave Ichika one last plaintive sight but didn't say anything as Tatenashi dragged her away.

"I'm leaving too," Laura said as she tried to follow other girls but Ichika stopped her, as he caught her right arm and Laura immediately froze.

"Laura, please tell Charlotte about next Sunday, alright?" He asked. Conflicts between girls were last things he needed right now, so Ichika decided that it would be better if all his 'fangirls' will be informed equally.

"Ok… okay…" Silver-haired girl replied with wavering voice.

"Thank you, I know I can count on you," Ichika said and slightly kissed tip of Laura's head. Girl's face immediately became red and she ran away without saying anything. "Hah, I think I understand why onee-chan likes her – she's really like a big living doll…"

* * *

September, 24th, Sunday. 10:52 P.M.

"Sorry to disturb you," Tatenashi opened the heavy door and walked into the Principal's office. It was dark outside the windows, and the night that gathered caused everything to be covered in darkness.

"Ahh, Tatenashi-kun, perfect timing," Inviting Tatenashi in was an elderly man with a calm face. On the surface, his wife was the principal, but in fact, all school affairs were controlled by this man, "I'm awaiting your report."

The man put his hand on the stylish table and prompted Tatenashi to speak. His face had wrinkles that matched his head and the white hair. He was rather friendly, and was often called the 'Conscience in the School'. This man, Kutsuwagi Juuzou is the real man running I.S. Academy. "So, what you think of Orimura Ichika?"

Tatenashi kept her usual playful manner as she started reporting. "To be honest, I'm really surprised. His combat skills are really exceptional, and to think that he created an I.S. like **Demon Queen** all by himself…"

"You're right. But I think that's to be expected – he's Orimura-sensei's brother, and I heard many times that his intelligence is on pair with Shinonono Tabane," Old man said.

There seemed to be some hidden meaning behind that, but Tatenashi didn't ask as she continued her report, "But at the same time, I'd say he is completely uncontrollable, unpredictable clinical psychopath."

"You think you can handle him?" Kutsuwagi asked.

"I'll do my best, Kutsuwagi-dono," Tatenashi bowed slightly. "Now, about _Phantom Task_. We confirmed that there were at least two I.S. One of the cores was taken out, so they shouldn't be able to take much action in nearest future."

If the core's the heart, the armor's the body. If only the heart was taken out, it meant that it had to lose the body that was fit around it, so it'd take quite some time to assemble the armor around it. _Phantom Task_ somehow managed to steal **Arachne** , but they weren't the ones who built the frame, so getting the spare parts to rebuild entire frame won't be that easy.

"It's been tough on you, Tatenashi-kun," Old man said.

"This is nothing much. My machine can gain practical experience too," Tatenashi shook her head.

"Hmm, the Russian-made I.S… It's finally complete. I was worried whether it would be completed in time, you got it just about six weeks ago, right? It was the right thing to hand it over to you," Kutsuwagi noted.

"There are several flaws the developers made in the design, but I want to use it as it is now," Sarashiki said. Really, she only got her I.S. several weeks ago, yet she already familiarized herself with all its equipment and managed to develop several efficient tactics. That's the proof of Tatenashi's excellent skills. Of course, she's not even close to Chifuyu's level, but she's very good nonetheless.

"Hmm, Tatenashi-kun," Old man looked at Student Council President, "Don't mind my asking, but have you considered asking Orimura-kun for assistance? I'm pretty sure he can help you fix those 'flaws' you've mentioned, not for free, of course…"

"No, sorry, Kutsuwagi-dono, but I'd like to keep Orimura Ichika as far away from my I.S. as possible," Tatenashi refused as she shook her head. "Not that I had doubts about his engineering skills, it's just… forgive me my stubbornness, but I don't want to borrow anyone's assistance for this case – I want to handle this myself. Besides, I can't spend my family's money to solve my own problems."

"Okay, I'll leave it to you then. Do whatever you want," Juuzou shrugged.

After reporting about two, three more things, Tatenashi ended her report, "Anyway, that's all." Tatenashi smiled as she said that, and Juuzou showed a warm and friendly smile as well. The conversation between both of them removed the tense atmosphere like mist.

"Then, let's have some tea. Oh yea, I bought some nice snacks. It'll be great if it fits your tastes," After Juuzou said that, Tatenashi's eyes glittered.

The expression on her face at that moment fit her age, "Will Juusou-san's snacks be to my liking? I'm looking forward to it!"

"Hahaha, I'm not that amazing," Old man laughed friendly.

"No no no, it's really good. Oh yes! I brought some tea along with me!" Tatenashi announced.

"Ohh, is that brewed by Nohotoke-kun?" Kutsuwagi asked.

"As you guessed," Sarashiki nodded.

"Ohh! The tea she brews is really good. I think we can have a good tea party," Right now, his speech and mannerism were completely different from his age. He didn't look like a man who was going to be 70.

The two people who were seated started a tea party like good friends. Nobody would think that they were the two leaders of I.S. Academy if they saw them like this.

"Hmm? Kutsuwagi-dono, what's that?" Tatenashi asked as she saw a file on Juuzou's desk. Not only she was quite curious girl, but there was her name on it… and it was one among four very unusual names… Other three were: Orimura Ichika, Orimura Chifuyu and… Shinonono Tabane!

"Ah, this," Juuzou smirked, "This is some sort of report project, which I managed to acquire thanks to my very good friend in JSDF. Feel free to read if you want, it's not even confidential…"

Tatenashi took the file. Seemingly, it really was an early project, as it even had no official name. Aside from facing page, there were only four pages – one per each person. On each page was a person's photo, hexagonal chart with six parameters, and several comments written in dry military style.

Hexagonal chart contained central point and five layers, which were marked from 'E' (internal) to 'A' (outer), seemingly representing parameter's intensity. Four parameters were same for every person, and two were individual for each one. Tatenashi looked at graph that was representing her individual numbers:

 **Stress tolerance: A**

 **Physical training and martial arts skills: B**

 **I.S. Piloting skills: B-** (point was between 'C' and 'B', but a bit closer to 'B')

 **I.S. knowledge and engineering skills: C**

That was her general parameters, her individual parameters were:

 **Talkativeness: S** (point actually was outside chart's outer border, 'S' means 'Superior')

 **Mysteriousness: D**

 _'What the hell?!'_ Tatenashi thought angrily, _'Martial arts – 'B'!? Engineering skills – 'C'?! I've assembled my I.S. myself! And what's with that 'Talkativeness'?!'_ Girl felt herself quite offended, but since old man was still here she couldn't allow herself look hysterical, so she just turned page over and began to examine next person's charts – Orimura Chifuyu:

 **Stress tolerance: S**

 **Physical training and martial arts skills: M**

 **I.S. Piloting skills: S**

 **I.S. knowledge and engineering skills: B**

That was her general parameters, three out of four were off the charts, with second one being way above the charts ('M' means 'Maximum'); individual parameters were:

 **Beauty: S**

 **Probability of finding a boyfriend: E-** (that point actually was quite close to zero…)

 _'Well, it's hard to argue with that…'_ Tatenashi sighed. If she was compared to Orimura-sensei, then maybe her own values ain't so unfair? _'If Orimura-sensei's engineering skills and knowledge about I.S. are at level B, then I should be proud about my C… But what's with that last parameter?! The one who wrote it really knows no fear if she or he dared to write something like that about Chifuyu-sama…'_ With that thought, Tatenashi turned page over, and now she was looking at Chifuyu brother's chart:

 **Stress tolerance: S**

 **Physical training and martial arts skills: A**

 **I.S. Piloting skills: B+** (almost between 'B' and 'A', but slightly closer to 'B')

 **I.S. knowledge and engineering skills: S**

That was Ichika's general parameters, only two out of four were off the charts; individual parameters were:

 **Life by rule "violence solves everything": S**

 **Farseer: M**

 _'Ha ha, how true…'_ Tatenashi laughed as she looked at fifth parameter, though it wasn't joyful laugh… Then she looked at first four parameters, which actually were meaningful. It was hard to disagree with them… Ichika defeated her, using martial arts, so he's actually better. Stress tolerance… well, considering his behavior during incident with 'Phantom Task', he really has nerves of steel. Engineering skills – well, **Demon Queen** 's his creation, so there's little doubts. And piloting skills… _'This report really looks quite impartial…'_ She thought as Ichika never tried to hide that his sister is much better pilot. _'But what the hell is this?!'_ She even blinked to make sure she did read the sixth parameter properly and then shook her head.

She turned the last page and looked at most interesting chart – Shinonono Tabane:

 **Stress tolerance: S**

 **Physical training and martial arts skills: A+**

 **I.S. Piloting skills: S***

 **I.S. knowledge and engineering skills: M**

 *** – Has no personal unit but all forces should consider her as S-rank threat as given.**

That was Tabane's general parameters; individual parameters were:

 **Breast size: S****

 **Cosplay veracity: D** ***

 **** – actual size: 100 – 74, F-cup;**

 ***** – cosplaying several characters at the same time isn't good.**

Tatenashi shook her head to kick out of her mind two last parameters and remarks about them, and again looked at four 'primary' stats. _'Everything above the charts!? Even martial arts?!'_ Second parameter was not far enough from "A" to consider it "S", but still off the charts. And fourth parameter… But Tabane's the one who invented I.S. – so if here's the one who knows everything about I.S. – this is she. _'And what about that third parameter? Why she should be considered S-rank threat without personal I.S.?'_

"Curious reading matter, don't you think, Tatenashi-kun?" Old man asked.

"Y… yes, Kutsuwagi-dono…" Tatenashi replied uncertainly as she again was looking at her own hexagon.

"Please, don't give me that look," Old man tried to cheer up Tatenashi, "You still has so much potential, I'm sure there are lot of ways to improve these charts."

"Yes, yes, you're right, Kutsuwagi-dono," Tatenashi agreed as she cheered up a bit. But still, her mood wasn't too good now. Ichika is more than a year younger than she, yet sum of his stats not much lower than his sister's… Besides, what's with that 'Mysteriousness = D'?! She was putting so much efforts, supporting her 'enigmatic' look… Moreover, Kutsuwagi definitely saw that Ichika's charts much higher… then why she's still Student Council President? Maybe Ichika made a promise to his elder sister, but Kutsuwagi doesn't have anything to do with that, right?

Tatenashi just got so many unanswered questions…

* * *

A bit later, when Tatenashi left, Kutsuwagi Juuzou came to his desk and opened upper desk drawer. There was one more page of that report, that he didn't show to Tatenashi. It means two things: he actually wanted Tatenashi to read that report, and he didn't want her to read that last page.

Actually, there were only two strings on that last page:

Report approved: Rear admiral Kirishima Kōjirō

Report Composed: Commander Orimura Ichika

Well, this is quite understandable now why old man didn't show that page to Tatenashi…

Kutsuwagi took the report. "Who could have thought that Orimura Ichika can be so impartial, evaluating himself…" He thought aloud, looking at Ichika's charts, as he gave himself only 'B+' in 'I.S. piloting skill' chart. "And that he has some sense of humor…" Old man looked at Chifuyu's parameter 'Probability of finding a boyfriend: E-' and Ichika's own parameter 'Farseer' (he actually thought that this is too some kind of joke…)

"But most importantly – this one…" He turned page and looked at Shinonono Tabane's photo, "This woman… we should be very careful with her…"

* * *

September, 25th, Monday. 12:05 P.M.

Fifth lesson was canceled, instead school meeting was taking place. All class representatives and club presidents are here, because that's also the announcement of the result of the tussle over Ichika. "Everyone, it's been tough during the school anniversary a few days ago. Now, I'm going to announce the results of the votes," Student Council President announced.

Every student that's gathered in the sports hall swallowed their saliva.

"In first place, the audience-interactive play 'Cinderella' that the Student Council organized!" Tatenashi announced joyfully.

"""...Huh?""" Everyone immediately opened their mouths in shock. Several seconds later, the girls recovered and started booing:

"DESPICABLE! CUNNING! CHEAT!"

"WHY IS IT THE STUDENT COUNCIL!? ISN'T THAT TOO STRANGE!?"

"WE WORKED SO HARD!"

Facing the audience's complaints, Tatenashi made an 'Okay Okay' hand gesture and continued, "The condition to take part in that play was to 'Vote for the Student Council', but we didn't force anyone to vote, so we did follow everyone's will."

Indeed, nice condition. That's really a well-thought out plan. Almost all girls wanted to live with Ichika, to achieve that they had to get the crown, to get the crown they had to participate in 'Cinderella' play, and to participate they had to vote for student council.

But Tatenashi's explanation couldn't stop the complaints. And then…

BOOM! Again, that was a snap of Ichika's fingers but it was translated via acoustic system at full power. "Ladies, I'm very sorry to say that, but I'm afraid that's no longer the case…" Ichika's voice announced as he suddenly appeared near Tatenashi on the stage, as if from nowhere. "I just talked with academy's board of trustees, and I'm afraid that I've brought some bad news… Since I'm attending only about 30% of lessons in this school, and since I'm attending another educational institution at the same time, board of trustees decided that it will be somehow… unethical if I am to occupy any official position in any student organization of I.S. Academy or if I will be a member of any club in girls-only school. That means no Student Council membership, no committee membership, no club membership, I even have to step down from my position of class 1-1 representative. Again, I'm very sorry, but decision has been made…"

As he said that, a tornado of angry voices flooded the entire hall. There was no way to understand a single word, but overall meaning was pretty clear.

"What's the meaning of this?!" Tatenashi whispered. She also seemed quite displeased.

"Isn't that obvious? I'm saving your lovely butt," Ichika replied, looking at Tatenashi with plaintive sight. "When all this…" He pointed into the raging hall "…will be over, come to the Student Council room, I'll explain everything." As he said that, Ichika vanished as quickly as he appeared.

* * *

September, 25th, Monday. 12:50 P.M.

"Now, please care to explain – what was that?" Tatenashi asked as she joined Ichika and rest of the Student Council in their room. Her lips were smiling, but her eyes weren't – as she was hiding her smile behind her fan, as usual, her eyes were actually glittering with fury. "Can you imagine how many efforts and time I spent, developing that plan? How many planning it took? Not to mention that I spent 40 minutes trying to calm down all that angry crowd!"

"That was just what it was – I've simply divulged the decision of board of trustees," Ichika shrugged, looking into the window, and ignoring Tatenashi's expression. Honne and Utsuho were just silently watching at Ichika. "They've learned that I'm also attending 'University of National Defense' in absentia, though it's not a big secret, and made their decision."

"University of National Defense!?" Utsuho asked in surprise as Honne just opened her mouth in shock.

"Yes," Ichika nodded. "Nothing special, just a formality so I will be able to get further promotions. Their exams are child's play, I'm second grade student now, there's no reason to be hasty with this…"

"Don't try to change the topic," Tatenashi said as she glanced at Utsuho, prompting her to not interfere, "You want to say that board of trustees, with its full complement, contacted you personally just to announce their decision?"

"Of course not, Sarashiki, you can't read between the lines?" Ichika turned around and looked at her with pity. "That's the official story that you will tell to your annoying friend from newspaper club. Unofficially I personally asked them to install that new rule. Why? Oh come on…" Ichika sighed as he saw expressions on girls' faces. "You really thought that I didn't know about your idiotic plan to force me to join student council and then force me to participate in various clubs' activities? In which world you are living in? Sarashiki, I thought I've made myself clear whan I told everyone that I have no gods and no masters, no one can force me to do anything that isn't stipulated by main Academy's program. Student Council, Board of trustees, Principal, Kutsuwagi-san or anyone else…" Ichika stopped talking as he saw shocked face expression on Tatenashi's face when he mentioned Kutsuwagi Juuzou.

"Okay, we can continue this discussion when you'll return to the real world. For now, let me make the long story short – there was no way you could fulfill your plan to calm down all those complaining girls, so I asked a board of trustees to install that new rule so students could blame some unknown group of unknown people instead of you. Don't presume anything – I'm just returning a favor, be thankful. I have no time to babysit those girls and their stupid clubs, I have a war to wage, and you, eldest scion of Sarashiki clan, you have too, so quit fooling around and find it in yourself to do what you have to." With that, Ichika ended his monologue and left the Student Council room, leaving three flabbergasted girls behind.

* * *

September, 25th, Monday. 10:58 P.M.

Late evening, Ichika was returning to his dorm room. "Orimura-sama," Someone called for him from behind. That was eldest of Nohotoke sisters – Utsuho.

"Utsuho-san? Do you want something?" Ichika wondered, "I hope it's not about Student Council's affairs?"

"Oh, no, no, it's ojō-sama's business… Anyway, if you don't mind, I've got another kind of question for you."

"What's that?" Ichika asked. It's rare that Utsuho's voice would be so hard to hear.

It looked like she's wanting to say something out but couldn't. She already opened her mouth and closed it twice, without saying a word. After about thirty seconds she finally spoke up, "What's the name of that friend of yours who came to visit during the school anniversary?"

"Hmm? Ah, you must be talking about Dan… His name's Gotanda Dan, and he's studying in a high school in the city. We were classmates in Junior High School, also he was a member of my school's football team, his favorite position was of right attacking midfielder. He's pretty good guy, though his bass guitar play's really awful… but who's without flaws?" Ichika gave irrefragable answer as she clearly understood why she asked.

"Tha… thanks for the answer…" Utsuho stuttered a bit. "But it means he's of the same age as you, Orimura-sama?"

"He's half a year older, if I remember correctly," Ichika nodded.

"...Younger than me by one and half year..." Utsuho said quietly but Ichika managed to lip-read that. Though, he didn't find what to say in this situation – that was a bit an issue… though, that issue ain't seem unsolvable.

"Anything else?" He asked instead.

"Oh, no, that would be all, thank you," After saying that, Utsuho-san thanked Ichika politely and left. Her face seemed to blush subconsciously.

"Shall I tell Dan? She's good-looking, earnest and reliable girl, I think she could make a real man out of that guy," Ichika thought aloud as he smiled ironically.

* * *

September, 26th, Tuesday. 8:40 A.M.

Class 1-1 Home Room Session. "As you all already know, as a result of new directive, sent by board of trustees, Orimura Ichika has been relieved of his duties as class 1-1 representative," Home-room teacher of class 1-1, Orimura Chifuyu-sensei, announced to the class. Buzz of displeasured voices immediately rose up, so Chifuyu had to clap her palms to calm everyone down. "As such, you have to choose a new one who'll be taking part in the inter-class tournament. As before, you can nominate yourself or another person. Either way is fine," Chifuyu said.

Girls began to look around. Seemingly, this time it won't be an easy decision. "As a former class representative, may I say several words?" Ichika suddenly raised his hand. Though until now he seemed completely uninterested, for some reason he decided to say something. Chifuyu looked at her brother. Actually, she'd like to refuse, because it definitely won't be 'several' words, but since Ichika already got undivided attention, she decided to let him do whatever. "Carry on," She sighed.

Ichika stood up, "I shall be brief…"

 _'Really?'_ Chifuyu thought.

"…I guess it's pretty obvious that class representative should be a personal I.S. pilot, so our class wouldn't be at disadvantage. So we have four candidates here," Ichika continued. "However, position of class' representative means interaction with Student Council, and Fräulein Bodewig expressed her lack of desire of doing that, pretty clearly. Also, Shinonono-san informed me about her desire to avoid public positions. I don't think that we should force people take positions which they don't want, right? And when I tried to ask Miss Alcott about her opinion on that matter I couldn't get a clear response because she was too busy with counting sins, committed by Nǚshì Lingyin ['nǚshì' (女士) means 'Lady' on Chinese, respectful way to address unmarried woman in China]. That leaves me with only option – I'd like to nominate Mademoiselle Charlotte Dunois," Ichika concluded.

"What?! Me?!" Charlotte exclaimed in shock. In fact, she was the only one with whom Ichika didn't talk – she overslept today's breakfast (and barely made it in time before HRS started).

 _'One day I'll learn to not let him push speeches…'_ Chifuyu cursed herself, _'He already made his choice, and I let him impose his opinion to the class…'_ But now it was too late, his logic seemed quite clear, besides, Laura and Houki – they really didn't want to be representative, and Cecilia… well, she wasn't the most popular person in class… Charlotte, on the other hand, was in good relationships literally with everyone in the class, and now, when Ichika vouched for her…

"I agree with Orimura-sama!"

"Yes, I think this is for the best."

"Nice choice!"

Charlotte was looking at her classmates with desperate face expression. "Girls… I… But I…" She tried to say something but no one was listening.

"Yes, I also want to express my support to Charlotte Dunois' candidature…" That was a nail in the coffin, because the one who said that was Laura.

"Laura… and you too…" Charlotte seemed as if she's going to cry.

"Then Charlotte Dunois will be the first candidate... is there anyone else? You can nominate yourself or another person. Either way is fine," Chifuyu said. Her voice sounded like she's sympathizes towards poor girl… but not too much. "Are there any more nominations? If not, Dunois will be elected without a vote."

"It's decided then!" Exclaimed girl, which agreed with Ichika first.

"Charlotte is good I.S. pilot, which means she will be an excellent representative!" Few more girls shouted in support.

"Well, then I guess we should congratulate you, Dunois-san…" Yamada-sensei said, and this time no one interrupted her. Cecilia seemed that she actually wanted to say something, but her eyes met with Ichika's glowing sight, and she changed her mind… to be honest, she wasn't dreaming about that position, anyway.

"Alright, from now one Charlotte Dunois becomes the official representative of class 1-1," Home-Room teacher of class 1-1 announced. "That would be all for today's HRS," She added and headed towards classroom exit. Next lesson will be mathematics (general high school program), so Ichika immediately followed his sister and vanished like a wraith, but not until he managed to leave a small piece of paper on Charlotte's school desk. There were only few words – time – 15 minutes after today's last lesson, and place – far side of island on which I.S. Academy is located.

* * *

Saying that Charlotte was angry at Ichika is like saying nothing at all. She was boiling with fury! At a time like this he forced her to became public person. She had her own issues right now…

When she noticed Ichika's note that he left on her table, initially she wanted to tear it to thousand shreds, just like she wanted to do the same to Ichika himself. When she tried to talk with her so-called friends (i.e. Laura, Houki and Cecilia), during large break between third and fourth period, all three suddenly vanished. Even Rin disappeared. No doubts all four were acting on Ichika's order. Something definitely was going on, and no matter how much anger was boiling inside her heart now, she had to meet with the one who stays behind all of this.

So now, at 3:15 PM, Charlotte came to the place that was specified in Ichika's note. As she approached, she saw quite unlikely picture. Ichika was sitting on the bench all alone, and he wasn't doing anything – seemingly he was just looking somewhere, far away to the sea.

"Come, take a seat," Ichika invited her to seat near him as she approached.

"I'll better stay here," Girl replied coldly.

"Hmpf, as you wish," Ichika replied with irony. "Okay, listen. I more or less understand what you think about me right now. I've set you up, I know, but I had my reasons. First of all, I just couldn't let anyone from that trio to become class representative. Their joint photo could be used as an illustration to article 'Asocial behavior' in Wikipedia."

Despite her anger, Charlotte unwillingly smiled…

"Though, it's not the main reason, of course," Ichika continued. "Main reason is that I wanted you to be angry at me rather than at yourself."

Charlotte's eyes widened, Ichika's words confused her.

"Your only fault is that you were unable to complete a mission that was impossible to complete to begin with. You should be angry at your country's government, at your father, at corrupted system… but being angry at others isn't your strong point…" Ichika explained, for some reason he decided to play nice for once.

And then Charlotte understood. "W… wait… you know?!" She asked in shock. Ichika slowly turned his head and looked at her with pity, Charlotte quickly understood that she asked a stupid question.

The thing that Charlotte was hiding actually was a message from French government. They informed her that her rights as representative candidate have been revoked, and her citizenship was canceled due to her failure. Since she's an I.S. Academy student, they can't take away her personal I.S. from her right now, but she'll have to return it as soon as she graduates, after that she may go and do wherever she likes as her country no longer needs her, at all. This is why she missed breakfast today – she received this message yesterday after dinner and didn't sleep almost whole night, thinking about her future.

Charlotte sighed deeply as she lowered her head. Not saying anything she approached Ichika and sat on bench near him. "Not that I was upset too much," She admitted, "Honestly, I was prepared to such an outcome, besides, I was feeling myself homeless since my mother died… It's just, well, I still had some faint hope that I mean something to my father… was that foolish?"

"Of course," Ichika replied bluntly. Charlotte again smiled unwillingly. "But feelings are always foolish, one way or another," He added.

"Ichika, you're indifferent man, who doesn't sympathize to others, but exactly because of that trait I can speak my mind to you and don't feel myself pity…" Charlotte admitted with sad smile.

"You can thank me later," Ichika replied calmly. "Right now, I'd suggest you to focus on gaining 'points', so to speak, if you're not planning to stay homeless forever, of course."

"So this is why you made me a class representative?!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"Of course, as class representative you have much more chances of being noticed…" Ichika nodded. "By the way, about being noticed… There will be no I.S. practical lessons in next two days… would you mind to give me this thing for that time?" Ichika pointed at orange pendant on Charlotte's chest.

"You… you want my I.S.!? What for?!" She asked in shock.

"Well, despite I'm attending only about 30% of lessons here, I'm still class 1-1 student, so I'm rather interested in your victory in next class representative tournament. All should have fair chances, besides, it's probably not the most honorable reason, but I want to humiliate your father and his company. In the next two days I'll do what they couldn't do within more than two years – I'll make your I.S. a full-fledged 3rd generation frame."

* * *

And this is it! See you all in the next chapter. Don't forget to write a **review**!


	17. Silver Feather

Hello again people! Here I am with Next chapter chapter. It took some time to write it, but I this is summer vocation time, isn't it? Whatever…

Now, some talk with those who wrote a **review**.

 **Imperial-samaB, kristoper21, Darkkon27,** **FateBurn, Anikong, DarkBladerZX, Zarroc789, meirmamuka, killjoytommy, Alex2909:** thanks for support people; 'Archangels' will be explained further, have no doubts about it.

 **InTheYearOfTheCat:** I remember all my promises. If next chapter won't become too big, lemon will be there.

 **huntergo123:** Well, thanks for your opinion nonetheless, though Ichika's character is the main contradiction in this story. Though, he becomes that sociopathic because of 'Archangels' influence.

 **Apex85:** of course not, more likely he'll benefit from those things in that case as well. And yes, he needed to shock her, she's not that slutty.

Now, let's proceed to chapter.

* * *

 **Chapter XVII – Silver Feather**

…

Even though convincing Charlotte to give her precious personal I.S. to 'crazy scientist' wasn't easy, in the end she gave up, Ichika didn't even has to use his **Realizer**. Moreover, he personally informed Rin, Cecilia, Houki and Laura about Charlotte's situation, but only to give them strict order to no pity her, but instead to give her any support in her new role, if needed… though, it was mostly just for show. Besides, he 'forgot' to mention that he's going to upgrade her I.S.

So, while Charlotte was getting accustomed to her new role, Ichika managed to lay his hands on **Rafale Revive Custom II**. Of course, helping Frenchwoman was in fact his secondary objective… His main goal was to try few experimental designs, because he didn't want to experiment on his own I.N. with completely 'allogenic' technologies.

Main goal of 3rd generation I.S. was creation of advanced imaging interface, that would allow pilots to use their 'imagination' to control sophisticated weapons, like BITs, Shock Cannons, AIC, array of rapid-fire plasma throwers, etc… Installation of this interface took about three hours (3D hypersensor, holographic imager, etc., – complete set). Two more hours Ichika spent upgrading thrusters and servo systems, PIC system, as well as shield generator. A bit more time he spent to made few tweaks to I.S. power source. Rest of the time Ichika spent experimenting with different types of weapons.

* * *

September, 28th, Thursday, 7:42 P.M.

"Sorry that it took so much time," Ichika said as he met Charlotte at 3rd arena. "Arena will be closed at 9 P.M., so let's waste no more time," He added as he handed over Charlotte's pendant, which actually was her I.S. in passive mode.

"No… no, it's fine, I actually…" She actually didn't know what to say – Ichika made a 3rd generation I.S. for her, for free, and it took only two days to upgrade her unit. In passive mode her I.S. hasn't changed at all, it looked exactly as it was.

"Later," Ichika urged her. "Hurry up and deploy your unit, you need to get acquainted with your new systems, c'mon."

"Alright," Charlotte replied with determination, "Let's go, **Revive**!" She shouted… and nothing happened. "Huh?!" Girl seemed flabbergasted.

"Ah, yes, about that," Ichika remembered something, "Your unit's name now is **Sandstorm**. It's new generation, after all, modification level exceeded 40%…"

Charlotte sighed. Well, she was aware of Ichika's habit to give new names to everything he touches, though she never could understand that. But, in the end, he's a genius, who made full-fledged 3rd generation I.S. for her, so name change of her unit is quite small price to pay. "Alright," Charlotte said again as she closed her eyes, "Let's go, **Sandstorm**!" And this time everything worked as intended, she was engulfed with big sheaf of white particles, and her new unit was deployed.

From aside it looked mostly as it was before, slightly changed stabilizers form, thrusters' nozzles, and few other small details. Two most distinct differences were two additional 'wings', which were pointed upward (and they were longer and more massive that others four, which were just thrusters), and some sort of energy weapons, mounted beneath both of Charlotte's arms, its emitters ware glowing with turquoise light.

"Now, let's go through your new armament and equipment," Ichika said while Charlotte's I.S. was readjusting parameters. "Your old I.S. was an **All-Purpose Type** unit, which utilizes its speed and maneuverability, combined with considerable and diverse firepower. I tried to keep that overall paradigm, so you don't need to repudiate your customary tactics. So, your PIC and thrusters were all upgraded to roughly match general characteristics of other 3rd generation units. Until now, Cecilia's **Blue Tears** was fastest and most agile unit amongst all 3rd generation units in academy. With new _passive inertia cancellers_ and _thrusters_ , **Sandstorm** has a bit lower maximum speed than **Blue Tears** , but surpasses it in terms of maneuverability, which makes **Sandstorm** the most maneuverable 3rd generation unit in I.S. Academy by now."

Charlotte tried to say something (she seemingly was impressed), but Ichika raised his arm to prompt her to keep silence, as he continued the 'review'. "Now, I also made few tweaks to your I.S. main reactor and power circuits. As you can see – your maximum shield capacity now is 675 points (up from 650). But still, since all modifications of **Rafale Revive** frames were designed to work with armament that uses live ammunition, I couldn't replace all your weaponry with energy-based analogs without turning entire power supply system inside-out, and I had no time for that. So, I've added only one energy-based weapon system, you can see it right beneath your elbows."

Ichika sighed, "Sorry to say that, but I had to remove your **Gray Scale** [CQC pilebunker-type weapon]. But don't you worry, new weapon has the same damage and stopping power, but now there are two of them, and they can be used not only for point-plank attacks but in middle-to-close range combat as well. This is **Lineage** _ultrasonic blasters_ – effective range about 1300 yards, fall-off range – 2200 yards. Featuring a custom-built ultrasonic oscillator, reverberation chamber and coherent waves emitter it can annihilate any type of target by distorting I.S. shields or literally vibrating its armor's molecular bonds apart. Both blasters mounted on joint-type mounts, so each blaster can turn independently, +/- 15 degrees from your arm's direction in horizontal plane, you can control their direction via your new advanced imaging interface."

"And finally," Ichika came to most interesting part, "Those two massive things behind your back. They are **Wyverns** – independent weapon platforms, something like **Blue Tears** BITs, however, each platform has one _six-barreled_ _30 mm rotary anti-aircraft autocannon_. Each cannon uses electromagnetic contactless drive for rotation, and electrically primed shells. Cannons use 30x165 mm ammunition type, which I chose due to its availability and vast nomenclature of types."

"Each cannon has four presets of ammunition; each preset may contain up to 20 000 shells, which you can change at any time, using your new imaging interface in conjunction with your **Rapid Switch** skills. As such, each cannon can have up to 80 000 shells ready to fire, which makes it 160 000 shells in total. For now, each cannon loaded with only one preset, consider it as my gift. Preset contains this sequence: 2xAPFSDS → HVHE-T → 2xHEAT → SAPHEI-T. Remember, each **Wyvern** can be controlled independently, and **Wyvern** 's cannon is protected with armored casing, so they cannot be destroyed as easily as **Blue Tears** BITs, for example. Maximum range of operation (i.e. how far each **Wyvern** can fly away from your I.S.) is 900 yards. Each cannon equipped with active heat sink, so it can fire until it's out of ammo. Oh, and each cannon's rate of fire fixed at 4800 shots per minute, which means two of them together can make 160 shots per second. Effective range – 3300 yards, fall-off range – 4600 yards. With muzzle velocity of 900 m/s it should be quite effective middle-to-long range weapon."

"And a reminder, if you don't mind – it is important since you're no longer a representative candidate. The current presets contain relatively expensive ammo, especially APFSDS and HEAT charges. Academy will compensate you the cost of ammo that you will use during official practice lessons and matches, without conditions. But cost of ammo that you will use during your solo training session should be compensated by your country, or by academy if you're not a country representative, but for such cases academy has a monthly limit, which is not too big… So, during your solo training, I'd suggest you to use old Soviet AP and HE shells, they're much cheaper. Just an advice," Ichika concluded. "Now, we still have about an hour, so why don't you try your new toys?" He suggested. "Charlotte?" Ichika asked again as he got no reaction on his suggestion, but she just continued to stare at him with her eyes and mouth wide-open, Charlotte looked like a fish that was thrown on the shore.

"Oh, come on," Ichika facepalmed, "My engineering skills are that new for you?" Really, her amazement was quite frustrating, "Who do you think I am?". Besides, Ichika actually didn't invent anything new. Advanced imaging interface and hypersensor, PIC unit and thrusters were just slightly modified copies of those systems, installed on Ichika's old I.S. – **Byakushiki**. Reactor and shield's upgrades weren't too difficult to make, either. Independent flying weapon platforms, **Wyverns** – they are just simple adaptation of **Blue Tears** BITs' technology, Ichika saw them in action so many times… Autocannon, which was installed on each **Wyvern** , actually it is a modified version of **AO-18** naval autocannon, it just was equipped with I.S.-compatible control system and electromagnetic contactless drive to provide rotation. Ichika's only real invention was **Lineage** ultrasonic blasters, but they were ready long ago, he just didn't want to commit experiments with them using his own unit… though, Charlotte had no idea about all that…

* * *

September, 28th, Thursday, 9:18 P.M.

Well, Charlotte was quite capable pilot, so when she finally closed her mouth and tried her new I.S., everything went pretty smoothly. She familiarized herself with her I.S. new capabilities pretty quickly, though, mastering control over **Lineage** ultrasonic blasters and, especially, **Wyvern** Independent flying weapon platforms definitely will take some time.

Besides, when she left arena with happy smile and glittering eyes, Ichika 'got suspicions' that she's so happy not only because she got a full-fledged 3rd generation I.S., but also because she 'slightly' misunderstood Ichika's reasons to make that I.S. for her.

*Sigh* Ichika sighed, as he closed his dorm room's door behind himself. "Anyway, that was useful experience," He concluded.

"Adonai, why you spent so many efforts upgrading that girl's frame?" A.I. **Naamah** suddenly asked.

"Hmm? Oh, c'mon, don't tell me you're jealous," Ichika rolled his eyes. "I wanted those things out of my mind, they were bothering me. I wanted to commit several experiments with weapon systems that I don't need for myself, you wanted me to experiment on you instead?"

"No…" A.I. replied. "But, Adonai, I understand about ultrasonic weapon, but why you don't want **Wyvern** -like system for us?"

"Hmpf, for instance, because you have no bus-slots for it," Ichika replied. "That **Rafale Revive** frame has interesting feature – due to its overall simplicity, amount of bus-slots, which that frame has is quite scalable. When I removed the **Gray Scale** , made few tweaks to unit's reactor and power circuits, I got just enough of free bus-slots to install two sonic cannons and two **Wyverns**. But in terms of complexity, **Wyvern** is pretty simple thing. It uses live ammunition, so cannon itself doesn't need complex control system, each **Wyvern** requires only three bus-slots, two of which are used for flight control."

"On the other hand, imagine 3rd generation plasma autocannon… plasma generation chamber, two-dimensional EM-accelerator, particle oscillator, **overload mode** and **Paradise of Darkness** support, not one but three active heat sinks and, finally, wireless power supply system for all of that or separate power source – such a platform will require at least eight buss slots. And we need at least two such things to use them effectively. Do you have sixteen free bus-slots?" Ichika asked, perfectly knowing that all **Demon Queen** 's bus-slots are already in use.

"I apologize, Adonai," A.I. said humbly.

"Don't worry, it's nothing bad in asking," Ichika replied. "But currently we have more than enough of raw firepower, it's not an issue now. No, we need to focus on other systems now – new magnetometric sensor is almost ready, I'm planning to finalize and install it tomorrow, right after lessons, and we shall test it during Saturday, it must be ready before Sunday's event. Then I'll have to finish with our new **Eyes of Azazel** hypersensor array, right after _Cannonball Fast_. And after that, I think it will be the right time to get to revise your main and auxiliary electro-plasma conductors, I think we got enough experience, don't you think?" Ichika wondered.

"As you wish, Adonai," **Naamah** agreed.

"And then I think I can make a few tweaks to _Fold Out Armor_ … ah, so much things to take care of…" Ichika thought aloud.

* * *

September, 28th, Thursday, 10:27 PM (Local time, JST).

September, 28th, Thursday, 5:27 AM (US Pacific time).

 _United States, Oregon, about 90 miles southeast from Portland._ While in I.S. Academy it was already pretty late evening, here, at US West Coast was an early morning. But no one was sleeping here right now… _Strategic Defense Point No. 16, nicknamed 'Erased'_ , a place which even people with connections in the military would not know about, was filled with the echo of gunfire.

"Intruder Spotted! Urgent backup requested in area 6-D! I repeat, intruder spotted! Urgent backup requested in area 6-D!" The echoes of firing assault rifles, the angry roar of sturdy men, the chorus of army boots: they were all directed at a sole intruder.

A lone girl walked along a steel passage. That's right, the intruder was just a girl, a teenager, whose body seemed very petite even for her age. The girl neither laughed nor scoffed at the approaching men; she just looked down at them.

"…Deploy." At the sound of her unconcerned voice, rings of light started to gather around her whole body. Those rings of light gathered substance, and in a few seconds the girl's whole body was covered with metallic, light-purple armor.

"I.S.!?" One of the soldiers exclaimed.

"That bitch, is she a member of the organization that was mentioned in the report!?" Another one shouted.

The girl whose body was covered with the I.S. **Silent Zephyrs** , M, aimed her long rifle using only her right hand. That gun, which could use both Blue Tears energy and live ammo, was named **Star Breaker**. Right there, right then, there was no one besides this girl who knew that name.

"What's your plan!? Doing things like this to the U.S. Army, don't think you'll get away with it!" That was an angry roar which wasn't expected to get any particular answer.

But M hid her face using the Visor-model Hyper Sensor, and stated her intentions, something that nobody expected. "I came for the I.S. that is sealed in this base – **Silver Gospel**."

Ah, that's right. Since the each lost I.S. (mainly its core) means significant blow to national defense, no country will admit willingly that they have lost an I.S. Same happened after **Silver Gospel** incident – US officials convinced entire world that rogue I.S. was retrieved and sealed inside some secret base. Only selected few (literally, less than dozen of people) knew that **Silver Gospel** was destroyed along with its core… and only one man in the world knew that frame was destroyed, but core's still intact… and maybe even better than before. But right now that was irrelevant…

"What!?" One of the soldiers roared angrily, "How did you learn that it's sealed here?!"

But girl said nothing more. In a few, short moments, the soldiers collapsed one after another from the deadly bullets shot by M. But the strange thing was, regardless whether it was possible or not, M didn't kill any of the soldiers. Of course she was using real bullets, but she aimed to just barely avoid a fatal shot.

What a hassle… to not kill. But M, willing or not, had to obey the restriction she was given by her Phantom Task squad commander, Squall, when she was granted use of I.S., **Silent Zephyrs** : _nobody gets killed_.

Not that M was so obedient by herself. In her body, a surveillance nano-machine had been inserted, and if she'll disobey her orders, within a few seconds the core of her brain will be fried. This was also a condition that Squall gave, so for now M should obey that order.

"Guaa!"

"Gyaa!"

"Damn! HQ! HQ! Requesting urgent backup! I repeat, requesting urgent back… Gahh!"

Screams of the soldiers were echoing in the corridor. Before long, when locking onto her targets started to become difficult, M casually floated into the air, and started to charge and mow down the enemy, using rough movements.

Based on the map that was sent directly to her field of vision, the passage was to turn right, go down, then go up. At the exit of the rather tall passage – it was roughly 165 feet to the top – M located a new shadow above the route. From the silhouette, it was a woman.

 _'How would it feel breaking, breaking those ribs?'_ At the instant when that evil thought visited M's mind, an arrow of light pierced her right shoulder. "Wh…at?!" She screamed. At the moment she tried to pull out the feather-shaped energy arrow, it exploded spectacularly. "Che!?" Girl screamed again. Right before hitting the wall from the shock of the explosion, M rotated her body, and fired her thruster the other way.

But, the enemy didn't miss that half-second of stillness. The next arrow attack was launched and exploded at her feet this time. Even M, who was used to high-altitude high-speed braking mechanisms, couldn't completely evade this attack. It was a mistake caused by her self-conceit.

"You…" Girl growled angrily.

"Natasha Fairs, citizen of the USA, I.S. test pilot. And also **Silver Gospel** 's registered pilot," Unknown attacker introduced herself, though, even while talking, the counter-attack didn't slow down even a bit. Both her hands held something that looked like a wing, and had a clear silver coating. That was **Silver Bell Mark II** prototype, hand cannon version.

Natasha was using only her own strength to shoot the weapon over and over again, which, when looked at in terms of output only, surpasses even the latest armament provided with the **Silver Gospel**. While releasing Energy Shot, her beautiful blond hairs were waving from the strength of the recoil, dancing intensely and beautifully. "I won't let you close to that child…!" Just like a mother protecting her daughter, her desperate attack continued.

But, even with all that, she was just using her own strength after all. She could no longer hit M, who started concentrating her senses fully. "You're in my way," Girl said as she knocked out the silver wing-like weapon from Natasha's hands, and then hit her with left hand. *Clamp!* With a loud thump, Natasha's body slammed against the wall, "Small fry."

Natasha, unable to move from the intense pain on her whole body, was held by M in a headlock. Their heights were different but it made no difference to M, who was floating in the air. Natasha's arms and legs were hanging and swinging. Her bones were broken in at least two places. She had more than twice that many fractures scattered through her body. Her limbs were powerless and swinging. But… "Ha ha…" US pilot laughed. The spirit that dwelt in Natasha's eyes had not weakened even one bit. "Hah hah…"

"What's so funny?" M asked emotionlessly.

"I can only go this far. But, I've achieved my objective," Natasha said still smiling, despite intense pain.

"…?" While M was still unable to understand the meaning of the words, the passage floor started to give a roaring sound and crumbled, "What!?"

"I'm taking Nathalie back, Phantom Task," From inside the smoke, a tiger-striped I.S. had just appeared, snatched Natasha away from M's hand, and then stabbed a throwing knife into **Silent Zephyr** 's chest. [A/N: For some reason Iris uses French pronunciation of Natasha's full name, 'Nathalie', instead of English pronunciation 'Natalie'.]

Against an enemy that suddenly appeared, even M had to back off a bit, "So, this is America's 3rd Generation unit **Fang Quake** …"

"Alright, Phantom Task, you're well informed, I give you that. I am US representative Iris Calling. I'll make sure you pay me back this debt for hurting Nathalie." While saying that, she threw Natasha, who would have hindered close-quarters combat, to the ground.

"Iris…?!" Natasha screamed.

"What?" Iris asked as if she did nothing wrong.

"Can't you see I'm injured?" Blonde moaned.

"I know. Just wait, I'll return the favor instead of you, and hit her twice as hard," Iris announced.

"That's… not what I mean..." Natasha sighed heavily. Iris was looking curiously at the sighing Natasha; it seemed she really didn't understand what Natasha meant, seemingly she was quite a simple-hearted woman.

"I'll take that unit too, thank you!" While saying that, M attacked, holding the knife backhand.

"Hey hey, have you not watched it in the movies before? When the hero is giving a speech, you're supposed to stand and wait quietly, you know!?" *Bam!* With the loud sound and flying sparks, Iris broke the knife with her fist. The blade, broken from the handle at the base, spun away quickly and stuck in the ceiling. "Just for the record, I'm strong, you know? Are you ready to be beaten to death? That machine you stole from England, it's still an experimental unit, right? There's no way you can win using that against me."

Although the machine she was using at the moment, **Fang Quake** , was also an experimental unit, judging from its abilities, it had the same concept as **Shen Long** , which meant that it also stressed the stability and efficiency aspects of the machine.

"M, can you hear me?" Squall's voice was echoing through M's head from the I.S. private channel. Although M, who was in front of her enemy, didn't answer, Squall still kept talking, just like the rainstorm she was. "I've already monitored the situation. Back off for now. We can't afford to lose the machine that took a lot of our efforts to finally get."

Although M didn't think she would lose, it could still take a while to finish the fight. If the fight dragged on, other I.S. reinforcement might come too. "Roger," With that consideration, M silently and coldly answered.

"I won't let you run!" While saying that, Iris used Ignition Boost to approach M.

But at the same time, M directed all her thrusters forward, and started a Reverse Ignition Boost.

"You're a clever one, aren't you!" Although Iris said that admiringly, there's actually no such margin of advantage.

That's because, while M was doing Reverse Ignition Boost she was intently shooting Iris at high speed. She was sniping during high speed movement using BT energy, and at the same time using maximum speed to retreat along the complex passageway of the underground base without losing her way.

"Stop right there!" Iris, while chasing, also had to evade the energy shots that were constantly targeted at her joints. Because of that, the distance between her and M was gradually increasing. When there was only around 300 feet to the end of the underground passage, there was already a distance of about 150 feet between them.

 _'This is bad! If I don't end it now, she'll escape!'_ Iris concentrated her senses in order to invoke Revolver Ignition Boost using the machine 4 base thruster. Although she felt uneasy about the 40% success rate, there was no point if she didn't use it now, _'Let's go!'_

M, who realized what Iris was doing, immediately released her BITs and increased her continuous attack firepower.

"Uryaaa!" Iris, who was no was longer concerned about receiving some damage, increased her speed. Her armor was damaged, her shield energy was decreasing, but Iris didn't stop. "Got you!" The distance was shrinking, and she extended her arm.

She got her. At the moment she thought that, Iris arm was obstructed by the Shield BIT's _Energy Umbrella_. Furthermore, it self-destructed with an explosion force even greater than a high-powered bomb.

"Whaat!?" Iris definitely didn't expect something like that.

Stalling her with the Shield Bit, with the force of the explosion and the sudden stop from supersonic flight, M managed to escape from Iris. When she saw the light of the sun, she disappeared into a faraway cloud on the other side, only **Silent Zephyr** 's back side projected in the zoomed view mode.

"Ah, damn it!" She punched herself in vexation. When the Iris's fist, armed with **Fang Quake** , collided with her other palm, the loud thick metallic sound echoed all around.

When Iris returned to the place where she left Natasha, medical brigade already has arrived. Former **Silver Gospel** pilot was sitting on stretcher, and paramedic was examining her. "Are you alright?" Iris asked.

"It's been better…" Natasha sighed.

"I'm sorry to say that, but she's escaped…" Iris reluctantly admitted. Natasha sighed again and looked somewhere aside. "Hey, what's on your mind?" Iris asked as she looked on Natasha's face. Blonde didn't reply, but Iris persisted, "Oh, come on, I know that expression. You're definitely thinking of something crazy…"

Once more, Natasha sighed. Then she looked at paramedic who was examining her. He nodded and stepped aside, as he understood that Natasha wants to talk to Iris privately. As it was said, most people on this base were sure that **Silver Gospel** 's actually sealed somewhere here. When all unauthorized personal was far enough, blonde looked at her friend. "Right now I'm thinking that it's really frustrating – being an I.S.-less I.S. pilot," Natasha admitted.

"I understand, but… wait!" Iris suddenly understood about what Natasha is talking, "Nathalie, don't tell me you're actually considering those people's proposition?!"

"I am," Natasha admitted. "When I came to visit my father, right after my return from Japan, I overheard him talking with a certain person. Though their conversation was pretty meaningless, I remembered one phrase, said by that person: 'If you really devoted to your cause, but God refuses to help you, you shouldn't hesitate to ask Devil for help'."

"Hah," Iris snorted. "The 'certain person' is that Japanese boy of yours?" She asked teasingly.

"What's with this 'of yours'?" Natasha asked, pretending that she really don't understand what Iris is talking about, though her cheeks flushed, just a bit. "But I'm seriously thinking about _Kuromochi Machinery_ 's offer. While it's still on, I think I should at least talk to them…"

Iris remained silent as she didn't know what to say in that situation. She was certain about one thing though – Nathalie is born I.S. pilot, and without I.S. she really feels herself out of place.

* * *

September, 29th, Friday, 11:23 PM

As Ichika had no reasons to stay in I.S. Academy during upcoming weekend, he now was in his room, in Orimura residence. His elder sister went to sleep about half an hour ago, and now she was peacefully sleeping in the next-door room. Ichika was about to go to sleep as well, this day was quite saturated with events.

First of all, Charlotte's upgraded I.S. caused quite a stir, as many other girls (all of them, in fact) were interested to know why Charlotte earned such a privilege – to get her personal I.S. upgraded by Ichika himself; especially personal I.S. pilots were interested; most of all – Rin. Lying about that was of no use as rumors in this school spreads like a wildfire, and by now everyone knew that Charlotte isn't a representative candidate anymore. As such – no way her country could be behind those upgrades, which leaves only one option.

Fortunately, Ichika was prepared for that situation, and he prepared proper speech beforehand. Besides, he warned Chifuyu about possibilities; of course he was lectured about 'troubles he causes', but naturally, she couldn't prohibit him to upgrade someone's I.S… On the other hand, Chifuyu also came to practice lesson prepared to deal with too active students. This morning, during joint practice lesson of classes 1-1 and 1-2, Houki and Laura got hit by attendance book several times, Cecilia and Rin, expectedly, earned more severe punishment… All of them were blaming Ichika, but he couldn't care less, because, as it was said, he had his own goals to achieve via that upgrade, and he achieved them.

After lessons, Ichika spent several hours installing new magnetometric sensors array on his I.N., since **Demon Queen** is an **Inquisitor** -type frame, it was just the thing… _Magnetometric sensor_ is capable of detecting distortions, caused by I.S. ion thrusters.

Normal I.S. thrusters suck in atmospheric air, heating it up to the state of ionized gas (cold, non-thermal plasma), and then throwing it out through thrusters' nozzles like a jet stream (so it got a name 'ion stream'). But since ionized gas creates electrostatic and electromagnetic field around itself – its source can be easily localized. No radar and optical camouflage can hide those magnetic field distortions. The more powerful thrusters the enemy I.S. has – the better magnetometric scanner can see it.

Of course, no I.S. can have infinite amount of detection systems, as such, Ichika had to replace common radar. So, by now, **Demon Queen** was equipped with two type of long-range (effective range up to 50 miles) detection systems – LADAR-based sensor as general-purpose detection system and magnetometric sensors array, which was created for I.S.-detection purpose specifically. Common radar and long-range biometric scanner had to be dismantled, though short-range (effective range about 2000 yards) biometric sensor was built-in into Ichika's helmet.

For tomorrow, Ichika already planned to test new scanner at his 'personal test field' aka old JSDF test site. Houki was also invited, for two purposes: so she could continue her training in use of I.S. navigation and automatic control system and so Ichika could use her I.S. to calibrate his new magnetometric sensor's upper limit – among all I.S. frames in existence **Crimson Camellia** possesses the most powerful, 4th grade ion thrusters.

On a side note, **Demon Queen** uses stream plasma ejectors (SPE) instead of ion thrusters. The difference is – SPE uses hot, thermal plasma made of heavy element (thorium) and active electromagnetic compressor-accelerator to gain thrust. SPE's advantage – better control of thrust vector, disadvantage – it requires fuel (thorium cells). Though, naturally, I.S. ion thrusters also can use stored fuel (liquid hydrogen) instead of atmospheric air, because I.S. was created for space exploration to begin with.

Ichika looked into the window. Last gleams of sunset disappeared from the horizon several hours ago. Autumnal equinox has passed – one of most notable signs this his birthday's approaching. Not that his birthdays ever were significant events for Ichika, people around him (i.e. Ichika admirers and/or lickspittles) usually tried to use that day to show off, thus trying to win some favors. No point to think that this year will be different, more likely, it will be much worse. *Sigh* Ichika sighed – no point to think about that anyway.

Suddenly, right when Ichika was about to turn off the light in his room, he got a message via his smartphone. "Hmm? That late?" He thought aloud. Doesn't seem like that message was from his JSDF superiors, they'd use I.S. secure channel. "Oh, really?" Ichika was a bit surprised since message was from _Kuromochi Machinery Development_ company, Ichika didn't expect to hear anything from that company since he returned **Byakushiki** to them. Yet they wanted to meet with him, or rather, they wanted his presence during their meeting with some third side, as a 'consultant'. Place and time also seemed strange – on the roof of Kuromochi MD HQ, tomorrow at 11 PM… Offer seemed odd, but… Ichika got feeling that some good money are involved, so it worth considering, at least…

* * *

September, 30th, Saturday, 2:20 PM

While Ichika and Houki were still at JSDF test site, Rin was preparing for a date, no less.

That happened yesterday, right after last practice lesson. Believe it or not, but Rin managed to invite Ichika for a 'small walk across the City'. Of course, actually she invited him for a date, and that was… pretty clumsy. But well, Rin was just a fifteen-years-old-girl-in-love, so… she was flushing heavily, stuttering, and trying to avoid looking directly into Ichika's eyes at all costs.

And most funny thing was that Ichika actually had no real reasons to refuse. Until 3 P.M. he'll be busy at JSDF test site, but after that and until meeting with Kuromichi he had no particular plans, i.e. between 5 P.M. and 10 P.M. he was planning to rest a bit, and he just might do it in Rin's company. Of course, wasting almost half a day like that was quite strange, but tomorrow will be very busy day, and he can't be worn-out.

"Hi hi…" Rin giggled to herself.

Seeing Rin, who's been in high spirits all morning, her roommate Tina muttered "Again?" By the way, what she was holding in her hand was a cup of deluxe, high-calorie ice cream.

 _'Today I'm going shopping with Ichika! In other words, it's a date isn't it? A date!'_ Despite the circumstances, she was only thinking about herself. That is the special privilege of a maiden-in-love.

"Okay, I've decided!" Rin, who had finally finished deciding which clothes to wear, sternly picked at her choice up and immediately started to change. As for Tina, she was already tired of watching Rin and is now enjoying the afternoon variety show on the holographic projector display. "Then, I'm going now!" Rin waved her goodbye, despite there were more than two hours until appointed time.

"Okayyy, have a safe trip..." Tina said lazily as Rin closed the door behind herself.

*Clamp!* One second after the door closed, the person that appeared before Rin's eyes struck her speechless. "Good morning, Representative Candidate Huang Lingyin." The woman was somewhere in her mid-twenties. She wore a formal suit, with those long, sharp eyes, covered by a pair of cat-eye glasses.

"G-Good morning…" Rin greeted her, stuttering. Looking only at her ambiance, she kinda resembled Chifuyu, but the always-irritated-at-something face she always wears is the critical difference between the two of them. "I-Is there anything I can help you with… Candidate Supervisor Yang?" An unpleasant premonition was sending chills up Rin's back. Why is the supervisor who should still be in China here in Japan right now!?

That premonition surely turned into reality. Yang Lei Lei pushed her glasses up with her right hand. "I'm here to inform you that the high-speed maneuver package **Fēng** [Wind], that is gonna be used for the Cannonball Fast, has been prepared and delivered. Do the _Implementation_ and _Quantum Conversion_ at once, then start the trial. You have to begin preparations, now."

"Wha… What!? But they said it won't be ready in time! Cannonball Fast is going to happen tomorrow! There's too little time for testing! Besides… today, there's something…" Rin tried to protest.

But Yang's eyes only became even sharper, "Don't make me repeat myself."

"R-Roger…" Rin replied obediently as she dropped her shoulders, took out her cellphone and quickly tapped out a message: _'Sorry, an emergency has come up.'_ That was all she wrote – or rather, writing that was all her feelings could handle – and then she sent that message to Ichika.

Then she made a deep breath and asked, "Will the package this time also use the impact cannon?"

"The output level will be decreased and the scattering method for close range use will also be changed, but basically it will still be used. New technology will be used for the added thruster. Get used to it as soon as possible," Yang Lei Lei ordered.

"Roger," Rin nodded. As expected of a representative candidate, Rin flipped the switch controlling her mood quickly. She confirmed the upgrade package's specifications on her computer, then headed toward the personal I.S. hangar while asking questions here and there.

The development team did quite a good job on the completion work, didn't they? Despite that previously Rin was told that, unfortunately, package won't be ready in time, seemingly, engineers got a good kick from their superiors, so they managed to finish it at the last moment.

Rin's eyes were quite sharp as she thought about **Fēng** package application method. Those eyes that could be mistaken for a big cat's eyes were shining brightly. But even so, she just couldn't completely rid of certain thoughts, _'Ah, I'm actually super out of luck aren't I…?'_ Her plans to go shopping with Ichika had gone down the drain. _'Kuu! Ichika, I'm absolutely gonna get compensation for this from you!'_ The computer terminal that she gripped strongly, began to flash 'Alert!' two seconds later.

* * *

September, 30th, Saturday, 4:18 P.M.

"One, two! One, two!"

"Target confirmed! Fire!"

I.S. arena №3. There, unaffected by the fact that today was a day-off, those strong students who aim to go even higher were spending all of their time doing I.S. training.

"Hah... hah..." The one in that corner and out of breath was Cecilia Alcott. She was trying to make BITs do a linked high-speed rolling shot, in order to make the laser trajectory bend many times over. However, she hasn't been successful in doing the **Deviate FireBT Flexible** even once, and with each passing time, the fatigue showing on her face was getting more and more obvious.

*Deep breath* Once again, she concentrated her senses, and she took a stance with her BT rifle **Starlight Mark III**. Cecilia put the image of water in her mind, and then fired above the balloon. _'Now, bend!'_ She gave a mental command. But Cecilia's efforts ware in vain. The laser plunged straight ahead, hit the screen shield and dispersed.

"Ah, let's end it here for today…" She sighed, but naturally, she couldn't continue. She has to take good rest before tomorrow's event. Cecilia put away her rifle while trying to catch her breath. The gun barrel in her right hand changed into light particles and disappeared.

 _'I'm tired…'_ Returning to the waiting room, nothing but gloomy things were showing on that face, only irritation and fatigue could be perceived there. " **Blue Tears** , standby mode." Shrouded by light, Cecilia's feet slowly touched the ground as her I.S. turned off the PIC.

 _'For the time being, I'll take a hot shower and at least change my mood…'_ While thinking that, she opened the door of the dressing room. There, an unexpected person was standing.

"Huh? Cecilia? What are you doing, training?" Girl with twin ponytails asked.

"Rin-san… Well, it's something like that," For some reason, Cecilia answered with an artificial smile towards Rin, whom she often hung around with. It was different from just a display; it could be said that it was an action born from her pride.

Whether she knew about thoughtfulness toward someone she considered her equal or not, Rin smoothly let it slide and continued the conversation. "I am going to do deployment training for the new equipment model starting now. Actually, I wanted to use I.S. arena №5, but unfortunately, it is completely booked right now." For instance, Laura and Charlotte were there…

"New equipment model, is it the high speed package as expected?" Cecilia wondered.

"Fufun, that's right. Just wait for it, Cecilia. Let's fight a good match tomorrow," Rin pointed at blonde, challenging her.

"Yeah. I'll hold you to that," Receiving the finger pointing of her rival, Cecilia's fighting spirit was burning.

Rin's 'throwing a written challenge'-like attitude could have been because she felt Cecilia's mental fatigue. Rin has always been sharp in noticing the subtleties of other people's feelings.

"Then, see you."

"Yeah, see you."

Rin waved her hand, and Cecilia returned it, not with an artificial smile, but with a genuine one, and then they passed each other.

 _'I won't lose. Not to Rin-san, not to any other of my rivals!'_ Cecilia, her feelings renewed, entered the dressing room with quick steps. Yes, she knew that she probably won't win against Ichika, but that wasn't her aim right now.

* * *

September, 30th, Saturday, 4:32 P.M.

Two I.S. units landed in the middle of the residential area, right in front of Orimura residence. "Alright Houki, thanks for your help," Ichika said as **Demon Queen** and **Crimson Camellia** disappeared with big sheaves of white quantum sparks.

"I… It's nothing, really…" Houki replied as her cheeks flushed a bit. She did a good job today – she not only helped Ichika to tune his new sensors array, she also made good progress with her own task – during only seven hours-long training session her reactor output passed 34% mark (34.1%, +0.9% increase).

By the way, Ichika noticed interesting thing – Houki's I.S. aptitude actually reached 'A+' rank… Not that it was something very abnormal – it can change with time as pilot gathers experience, due to change in pilot's mental condition, etc. But Houki's changes seemed too big and too abrupt, during her academy entrance test she scored pretty average 'C' rank, and now she's already 'A+', after less than half a year…? _'I'm wondering… Is that possible that **Crimson Camellia** also changes Houki's genetics?'_ Ichika thought, looking at his childhood friend. Of course it's impossible for an I.S. to modify its pilot's body… but not for I.S. made by Shinonono Tabane. _'And since building I.S. that can change pilot's genetic code is insanity – that's why it is quite likely…'_ But Ichika definitely not going to tell Houki about his wild guesses, as well as he's not going to teach Shinonono Tabane how to treat her younger sister. Besides, he's not the one to talk about body modifications…

Houki waved her goodbye to Ichika and headed home, which was quite nearby, she wanted to rest properly before tomorrow's event.

Ichika got the message from Rin so he knew that she won't come. But still, his I.N.-related plans for today were fulfilled, so he decided to walk around the City alone, just to relax a little after several hours of hard work.

* * *

September, 30th, Saturday, 5:12 P.M.

"…Hey, careful!" Suddenly, young girl almost crashed into Ichika as she was walking out of the store, looking around and not looking where she was going, Ichika managed to avoid collision with her thanks to his 360° field of vision. "Oh, Ran, it's you…" Ichika recognized the girl, who, by the way, just came out of lingerie store.

"I… I… Ichika-sama?!" Ran almost jumped as she recognized the person in front of her. _'Oh no! The place where I usually choose my p-panties… has been seen!?'_ She was caught red-handed… Furthermore, it was the long awaited meeting after not seeing each other lately. As a maiden-in-love, the feeling that _'if there was a hole right here, I would bury herself in there'_ dyed her face completely red.

She clenched to paper-bag she was carrying, she mustn't let Ichika see its content at all costs – the black and white striped panties that she just bought. The goods, which she found right during the stock change bargain sale, were of high quality and priced at only 1000 yen for three. It was a very good bargain, but wasn't something that makes you happy when you are seen with it by the person you like.

 _'It's okay! It's fine! We haven't seen each other for a while, I need to speak to him!'_ The small Ran (x5) in her head yelled. _'That's right. In the first place, because of that stupid brother of mine, I lost my chance to go to the school festival too. This much is just a natural privilege to me… probably.'_

After the festival, according to the info that she got from Teens Network (Girl's Only Information Network), it seems that it was a big event where Ichika was wearing a senior manager suit to greet the guests. One time for when she found out that Dan had the ticket. Another one for when she saw Ichika's photo. She had planned to beat Dan twice, but what's here is the innocent heart of a maiden-in-love. There's no way just that much would be able to compensate.

 _'But, it's okay! This month is Ichika's birthday! I plan to properly join the party!'_ Today she went shopping to scope out possible gifts, but buying herself clothes and general goods, especially panties, while she's looking around was a big failure. She was being forcibly suppressed by the self-conscious feeling of being seen during an embarrassing moment, but from the maiden-heart squad's splendid activity, the suppressed territory was gradually being released.

She clutched her hand and looked at Ichika. That appearance was the resolute appearance worthy of Private Academy Saint Marianne Girls Middle School Student Council President Gotanda Ran. "Good evening, Ichika-sama," She forced herself to smile.

"Good evening indeed," Ichika replied politely, "You're alone today?"

"Ah, yes. Strolling and shopping," Ran nodded.

"Not using Dan as personal helper?" Ichika wondered. In reply, he got Ran's resentful sight. "Don't tell me that you're still angry at him because of that matter from before? Honestly, your fury's aimed at wrong person. I should've know that for you that ticked would be more useful since you want to enroll into I.S. Academy next year."

"No, no, it's not your fault!" Ran assured him, "Ichika-sama no doubts have important things to attend to. I'd just like to ask – if possible, it would be nice if I'm prioritized next time you're giving out tickets…" She added uncertainly as she bowed 90 degrees straight, and then raised her head up, slightly dizzy.

"Of course, I understand," Ichika nodded. "Oh, by the way, I have one free ticked to I.S.-related event right now," He remembered. "It's so called ' **Cannonball Fast** ', I.S. race of sort. It won't be on academy's territory, but still may be interesting," He said.

Ran almost jumped in excitement, "Of course!"

"All right, I should still be able to hand you that ticket. Ran, did you bring a cellphone?" Ichika asked.

"Y-Yesh!" Ran mispronounced word due to her enthusiasm, and immediately regretted about that, _'Ah, I failed! So embarrassing…'_

The cellphone that was just taken out was switched into direct connection mode, and then the ticket data got transferred.

"All right, **Cannonball Fast** 's special reserved seat ticket. That will do?" Ichika wondered.

"Ah, yes! Of course!" Ran replied excitedly.

"But, just like the school festival, each person only gets one invitation card. Sorry that you can't bring your friends with you…" Ichika added, but of course he couldn't care less about Ran's friends.

"The… There's nothing to be sorry about! It's completely okay! All of my friends are the type who are satisfied with just watching the relay broadcast," Ran assured him.

"As you say," Ichika replied indifferently.

In the meantime, Ran found another thing to be worried about, _'Uh, if only I'd taken the character sticker off of my cellphone. He must have thought I'm childish…'_ Of course Ichika didn't even notice such a trifle, but for Ran who wants to be seen as lover material, this was also one small failure.

After seeing the 'Sending Complete' message, Ichika closed his cellphone.

"Tomorrow?!" Ran suddenly exclaimed as she examined the ticked data.

"Yes, at 10 AM," Ichika nodded. "What's wrong? You already had plans for tomorrow?" He asked, wondering how's that possible that Ran didn't hear about **Cannonball Fast** until now. "Anyway, about that **Cannonball Fast** tomorrow, as you can see, it's going to coincide with my birthday. So that means the birthday party that is planned could end pretty late. Is that okay?"

"N-No problem! Not at all!" Ran assured him. No, she didn't forget about Ichika's birthday, Dan was talking about it pretty often. "On that day, that stupid... sorry, I mean my brother will also be there…" And as she said that, Ran realized a big problem there, "Ah, will the people from I.S. Academy also come!?"

"Oh? Yes, of course I had to invite a few people," Ichika replied as it was pretty obvious.

"Ho… How many people will come?" Ran asked cautiously.

"Hmm… six people from I.S. Academy, I think… also few people from my job… I guess there will be about fifteen people in total. That's why I decided to move party out of my house, it will happen on the highest roof of **Izumi Garden** Tower…" Ichika explained, "I guess Dan already told you about that."

"Fifteen?!" Ran exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know, it's even more than I expected, though, my colleagues are from Yokosuka and Yokohama, so they probably won't stay for too long," Ichika explained.

"Ah, I see…" Ran nodded. But still, Ichika's coworkers weren't her biggest concern – six people from I.S. Academy were. That's an all-girls school, which means six people = six girls! By the way, Ichika didn't invite Tatenashi, but she most likely will show up nonetheless, so that's way he said that it'll be six people…

Ran was attacked by something resembling giddiness. Even just Rin and Houki are already powerful rivals, but to have even more rivals beside those two made her increasingly anxious. _'And there are four of them?! This is bad, this is bad. For a birthday present, hand-made cakes and small things won't cut it…'_ Suddenly, her self-confidence vanished. Ran had some pride on her moderate cooking skills, but in the first place, Ichika is also a good cook, but more importantly… Cooking seems just pathetic in Ichika's case – he's a JMSDF special forces commander, not some average schoolboy! Whish present can be considered worthy? Genuine Swiss wristwatch? Collection historical weapon? A schoolgirl, whose income consists of pocket-money from parents and small salary from part-time job, she can't afford any of those things!

Thinking about those things, Ran suddenly remembered about Rin. _'Wha… What will Rin-san do I wonder… If I remember correctly, Rin-san is also a representative candidate. Then, that means she gets military funding, doesn't she?'_ Rin and Ran, the two girls who had seen each other as rivals during Ichika's middle school days. It also could have been because of the competition between Japanese and Chinese style food. _'Haaa… There are too many rivals…'_ Ran became a little disheartened.

"Ran, are you okay?" She heard Ichika's voice.

"Oh!? I'm alright!" Ran hurriedly assured him, _'Uhh, I did it again…'_ Usually, Student Council President Gotanda Ran would never show this kind of unsightly appearance. But right now she is only a girl in love that you can find anywhere, who wants to be in front of the person she likes.

But even though she said that, she wasn't alright, not at all, she couldn't stop thinking. Rin-san is representative candidate… Something like that is really unfair… But, more importantly, could it be that there are more representative candidates among those girls Ichika mentioned?

Ran, who was planning to take the entrance examination for I.S. Academy next year, starting from this summer had hurriedly investigated I.S.-related things. She knew that about in eight or nine cases out of ten, nation representative candidates who got into I.S. Academy, are the users of personal I.S. She also knew that they were elite of elites. On the news they also showed that Houki-san received a personal I.S. Furthermore, they said that her unit was built by Professor Shinonono herself… Right now, she thought that everyone is really unfair.

She remembered the first time she met with Orimura Ichika. That day when she fell in love in 0.1 second. _'There's no way love at first sight exists. Are you stupid or something?'_ That day was when she started thinking how unbelievably stupid she was for thinking like that. To put it simply, people do fall in love. The reason can always be added after, and the impression is always vivid. And also, once it starts, it can no longer be stopped…

"Ran? Are you sure you're okay? Maybe you need medical attention?" Ichika asked, though he knew which kind of help she actually need – all her emotions were written on her face…

"No, of course not!" Ran assured him, though she actually had some. "It's just… please excuse me, Ichika-sama, I have to go now… do few preparations before tomorrow's event… goodbye!" And as she said that Ran almost ran away.

*Sigh* Ichika sighed. _'What preparations you have to do… you're not going to pilot I.S…'_ He thought, mentally facepalming.

* * *

September, 30th, Saturday, 10:58 PM

Kuromochi Machinery Development HQ building, roof. Pretty unusual people have gathered there. At one side – five people from Kuromichi – director of science department, director of engineering department, two top managers, and some high-ranked man from Japanese government. At another side – five people from United States – two women in their early twenties – Natasha Fairs and Iris Calling, US Airforce deputy chief of staff, civilian R&D representative, and State Department representative. And no matter how you look at those two parties – they were negotiating about something.

And then, 'third side' has finally arrived. An I.S., which was glowing with ominous dark violet lights, landed on the roof.

"Oh, so this is…" Iris tried to say as she saw **Demon Queen** , but she was interrupted by quite loud whisper.

"Hey! What's he doing here?!" Natasha's voice sounded quite agitated, she was addressing Kuromichi's representatives, "You haven't mentioned anything about him!"

"Nathalie?" Iris looked at Natasha with surprise, "What's wrong? I thought he saved you or something… hey, he's handsome…" She added as **Demon Queen** disappeared and she could see the pilot.

"He did, but… that guy's just…" Natasha sighed "…I mean, if this one is going to be involved, then it really begins to look like a deal with the devil…"

All US delegation now was waiting for the explanation from Japanese side, seemingly none of them was informed that Kuromichi was intending to invite Ichika.

To make the long story short, that was a collaboration offer. Unlike the rest of the world, Japanese side (actually, very few people, but still) was aware of **Silver Gospel** 's destruction (JSDF was looking for it, after all), which means that US side has good but jobless I.S. Pilot, and no platform to test new versions of **Silver Bell** -class weaponry. On the other hand, Kuromichi got problems with new weaponry development. As such, they came with an offer – make **Byakushiki** into joint project. US side's going to provide pilot, **Silver Bell Mark II** and high power output reactor, Japan's going to provide the rest – an I.S.

However, US side wanted to install two shoulder-mounted **Silver Bell Mark II** cannons, and not instead of **Byakushiki** 's current weapon – semi-automatic rifle **Yukihira Hirakana** [Blooming Snowflake] – but in addition to it. But no matter how much those people from Kuromichi and US R &D department didn't want to admit it – they couldn't quickly adjust **Byakushiki** 's power distribution system to ensure correct functioning of new power source and weapon, that's laborious process. That became quite clear during preliminary talks. Though, Kuromichi promised to solve that issue quickly, but they didn't tell that they simply want to hire a certain someone to solve aforementioned issue…

* * *

Negotiations took about an hour. Honestly, no one was too happy about Ichika's involvement (mostly because of the pricetag for his assistance), but they all knew that they lose much more time and money if they'll try to resolve all technical issues themselves.

"I knew that he's an arrogant and impudent, but couldn't imagine that he's also so greedy…" Natasha whispered, she was slightly shocked with amount of money, which Ichika asked for his services.

"Greedy?" Ichika asked indifferently, as he lip-read Natasha's words, "Not at all. Money itself has little value to me, but I'm maintaining my own I.S., as you know. Of course, I have access to military findings, but they're not going to pay for my every experimental design…" He commented as he was examining **Silver Bell Mark II**.

"Major Fairs, behave yourself," State Department representative shushed at her, "Their financial affairs don't concern us…" In the end, Kuromichi promised to pay Ichika… Natasha seemed offended – not only Ichika somehow managed to hear her, despite she was whispering very quietly, but she also was scolded for that.

"Very well," Ichika concluded, "I'm taking the job, though, there's one more condition – I'll change external design of this weapon. This wing-like form looks cool and all, but if I'll leave them as they are now it will require counterbalancing, which is clearly unnecessary…"

"Hey, hey, wait!" US civilian R&D representative interfered, "Every part of this weapon's design is crucial for its functionality! This is very sophisticated, experimental device, if you change anything it definitely will have negative effect on its functionality!"

Unlike those 'wings' of original **Silver Gospel** , **Silver Bell Mark II** wasn't a plasma thrower, which uses compressed air to accelerate plasma charges, but 'normal' plasma cannon with electromagnetic compressor-accelerator. It was still 1st generation plasma cannon, but with interesting addition… though, it wasn't a step toward generation 1.5, more likely it was a step aside…

"Really?" Ichika looked at that guy with pity. "Sophisticated? It uses fin-stabilized tungsten 'arrow' with iron core. Magnetic field magnetizes arrow's iron core, which forces compressed plasma gas to stick to it, after that, cannon shoots like some sort of hybrid of plasma cannon and railgun. Of course, tungsten arrow makes plasma charge's trajectory much more stable, and gives it that silver arrow-like look, but really, to call it sophisticated…"

Seemingly, due to inability to make a plasma generation chamber, capable of creating thermal plasma, US scientists decided to fuse plasma gun with railgun, in order to increase destructive power. However, it doesn't seem like a good sign, because, if they won't be able to make genuine 1.5 generation plasma generation chamber (and they probably won't), research of plasma weapon soon will be abandoned and they will concentrate on railguns, or switch to energy ray-based weapon technology.

In the meantime, US civilian R&D representative seemed speechless. And he wasn't the only one…

"He… he understood how our newest, top secret weapon works… just by looking at it for a few minutes…?" Iris asked in disbelief.

"Chifuyu-san said that he has very special eyes… I guess I now understood what she meant…" Natasha also could barely understand what just happened.

"The entire work will take two weeks," Ichika announced, "I'll start as soon as I get prepayment, just as we agreed. I'll contact you at Monday's morning, about delivery details. Now, if you excuse me, I'll take my leave, I have to wake up early tomorrow…"

* * *

When Ichika, entire US delegation, Japanese government representative and Kuromichi MD top managers left the roof, only two people were still there. They were company's science and engineering departments' heads, and both looked quite displeased…

"Orimura Ichika – uncontrollable, arrogant sociopath; Shinonono Tabane – irresponsible and unpredictable bitch; how is it come to that that we need one of them just to combine existing technologies in one frame?" One of them asked.

"I agree," Another man nodded. "We could do it ourselves, I told that to those idiots many times…"

But both managers were united in their opinion: Ichika said he only need two weeks, while combining **Byakushiki** with US techs, using Kuromichi's own resources, would take more than two months, and that definitely would cost more money than 'compensation', which Kuromichi agreed to pay to Ichika.

"Those idiots… they don't understand…" Science department head sighed. "If we stop investing money into our own R&D… If we stop letting our own people to do the real job…"

"What will happen if those 'extraordinary people' won't be willing to help anymore…" Engineering department head ended his colleague's phrase.

* * *

"Adonai, why have you agreed to do that job?" Ichika heard a question in his head. He literally could feel **Naamah** 's displeasure because he agreed to work with **Byakushiki** once again… Well, it was **Demon Queen** 's well-known trait – she doesn't like when Ichika's working with any other I.S. frames.

"Oh, not this again…" Ichika snorted. "I told you many times – money don't smell. And don't ask why I need them. Even I can't know everything in this world. Take this new alloy, of which your armor is made, as example…"

Initially, **Demon Queen** 's frame was made of the same alloy as **Messiah** , because **Demon Queen** literally built herself, using **Messiah** 's frame. But during summer holydays she got her frame rebuilt, using new alloy, but Ichika didn't get alloy's formula as a present…

"…That Australian science division tried to develop new alloy for their own I.S. units. They failed, yes, and I succeeded in completing their job, but knowing history of their failures helped a lot," Ichika explained. "But that science division had separated internal network, which couldn't be accessed from outside the facility, hacking it wasn't an option. So there was an alternative – assault the facility or bribe its staff. And assault on foreign facility would be… improper action."

"So don't complain," Ichika concluded as he landed in front of his house, "The money I'll get for that simple job will be put to good use…" With sheaf of quantum particles his I.N. disappeared, it was already quite late. **Cannonball Fast** will be tomorrow…

* * *

And this is it for now. Battle in the middle of the town awaits us in next chapter.


	18. Inquisitor

Hello again people! Here I am with eighteen chapter. I made it qute fast this time, though maybe I just like making action-packed chapters…

Now, some talk with those who wrote a **review.**

 **Imperial-samaB, Darkkon27, Alex2909:** thanks for support people; 'Archangels' will be explained further, have no doubts about it.

 **kristoper21, TheUniverseCrosser:** I know, I know, though it's not a romantic story I still promised the elements of romance will be here… and they are still not here. But your wait's almost over…

 **meirmamuka** : yeah I thought it's most natural way to bring Natasha back into the story.

 **BrokenLifeCycle** : yeah, sorry, that's probably the price for being hasty when writing…

 **reptoholic** , Many thanks for reviewing every chapter. Of course, pairing stated in description will remain as such.

And for all who was waiting for something intimate – next chapter's about Ichika's birthday, I think this is the right place for the first 'lemon' in the story.

* * *

 **Chapter XVIII – Inquisitor**

…

October 1st, Sunday, 9:27 A.M.

 **Cannonball Fast** event day. The grounds are saturated with people, and the sky is filled with fireworks that let out thunderous claps. Though, since large number of I.S. industry related personnel and government related personnel also came, many of the spectators are just guards for aforementioned people. But even leaving that aside, to have this many attendants assembled, it's another reminder about the fact that I.S. still has a lot of attention on it.

Today's program is, first, the second year's race, after that, it will be the first years with personal I.S. race, followed by the first years training unit race. And then, it will be an exhibition race from the third years. By the way, this is the first time when personal I.S. pilots got their own, dedicated race, because here's so many of them this year (only first year personal I.S. owners got their dedicated race).

"Ummm… seat № F45… F45…" Gotanda Ran, girl who got invitation ticket from Ichika, was walking while looking downward, checking her seat number on the map at her hand.

*Clap!*

"Kya!?" Girl yelped. Because she was walking while looking for her seat and not looking where she was going, sure enough, she bumped into someone.

"Huh?" She heard female's voice.

Ran hurriedly regained her composure and bowed her head, "I... I'm very sorry."

"Oh, it's okay. Don't worry about it," The other party was an older woman with fluttering, beautiful blond hair, who releases her overflowing adult's charm.

 _'Ouch… what a beautiful woman…'_ Ran thought as she looked at person she collided with. She should be around the latter half of her twenties. Her body, which is covered with a gorgeous red suit, is the figure of a woman at her peak. Her eyes were covered by sharp model sunglasses.

 _'Such voluptuous breasts, slender waist, and tight hip would attract people's eyes regardless of their gender…'_ Ran compared her own figure to that person's, and she shrank, thinking about her inferior body.

"Are you hurt?" Beautiful woman asked.

"N… No. I'm sorry," Ran bowed again, apologizing.

"Is that so, I'm glad. Then, please be careful," The blond woman advised as she slightly waved her hand.

"Y… Yes… Thank you…" Ran replied as she slipped past her through the side.

Just before they passed each other, the gold earrings on woman's ears slowly shone.

 _'Just… Just as expected from an I.S.-related event. People from all over the world have come to this event, haven't they?'_ Ran unintentionally looked down to her chest. _'I'm still in my growing period so it should be okay… right?'_

Ran, who had finally found her seat around 10 minutes after that, sat there and excitedly waited for the start of the race.

 _'To think that I'll be able to see Ichika-sama's figure in an I.S., live! Furthermore, today, there's also the birthday party after this event!'_ Ran forgot about her usual Student Council President self, who puts on a cool and calm front, and her heart bounced around just like a child waiting for a circus show to start.

* * *

Speaking about the circus…

All first-year girls with personal I.S. units already were in the pit. Cecilia already deployed **Blue Tears** with high-speed maneuver package, **Strike Gunner** installed. Right now she was watching over fellow England's representative candidate, 2nd year student Sara Welkin. "She doesn't have a personal I.S., but she's an excellent pilot. I also learned some piloting skill from her," Cecilia commented.

However, by now it's already obvious who's going to win that race – a girl with short blue hair, piloting an I.S. with butterfly-like wings made of pure water.

Beside Cecilia, the other participants for next race – Houki, Rin, Laura, and Charlotte – were already waiting in the pit.

Rin seemed quite confident. She also had her high-speed maneuver package, **Fēng** , installed. Besides the ion thruster that looks like 4 expansion thrusters stacked together, there's also the additional chest armor that extends forward. Possibly, it was made specifically to allow pilot to ram into others using that… The **Impact Cannons** are facing the sides, seemingly they're configured for interference fire. That package really is up to Cannonball Fast's specifications…

In that regards, Rin might have the most advantage among other girls.

Cecilia's package was originally designed for breaking away from a raid, and the other girls' frames have a makeshift high-speed maneuver specification. Rin, the only one whose I.S. is completely tuned for the **Cannonball Fast** specifications, is one step ahead of them.

"Huh. I'll teach you that a battle is not solely decided by the weapon that is used," The one who said that cool line was Houki. She was the only one who didn't do any modifications to her unit – because she doesn't need to. Only thing she has to do – wish for additional thrust and Crimson Camellia will do the rest, reconfiguring **Fold Out Armor**. That's the 4th generation I.S. for you. Or rather, that's the theory. By now, it seems that Houki will be dealing with the energy insufficiency by manually controlling the **Fold Out Armor** thrust. Despite some progress she made thanks to Ichika, her unit reactor's energy output is still quite insufficient to continuously supply her **Fold Out Armor** when it's at full power.

"A battle is all about the flow. The one who takes control of the flow will win," Laura, who equipped 3 additional thrusters on the back joined in the conversation. Even if it's not personalized equipment, she seems to also have some confidence in the race since the new thruster model is pretty good efficiency-wise.

"Everyone, let's go all out on the fight," The one summing it up by saying that was Charlotte. Before the race, she seemingly detached both **Wyverns** independent weapon platforms. Since she only got that new equipment a couple of days ago, controlling **Wyverns** by now takes too much of her concentration, she won't be able to handle that during high-speed battle-race. Instead of them, she equipped three additional thrusters, two on her left and right shoulders (on **Wyverns'** mount points) and one on her back, between them. Though those three thrusters were just spare parts, which weren't made by Ichika, they were just 2.5 grade thrusters, but still they are increasing the total thrust output.

In other words, all five girls were in high spirits and ready for battle. However, clear favorite of this race is Ichika – equipped with powerful SPE thrusters, **Demon Queen** could accelerate up to 4 Mach (though acceleration to full speed requires about 90 seconds). However, aforementioned person still wasn't here… "Where's Orimura-san?!" Maya Yamada asked again, she seemed pretty nervous.

"Well, he never comes beforehand…" Houki tried to calm down green-haired sensei.

"True," Rin agreed, "But I think this time he's going overboard. There's only few minutes until our race…"

"Girls! Look!" Charlotte suddenly exclaimed as she pointed somewhere upward. There was a screen that just switched to "In the next race" data display. And it was only showing five people's data – Houki Shinonono, Laura Bodewig, Charlotte Dunois, Lingyin Huang and Cecilia Alcott. No word about Ichika or sixth participant at all…

"What's the meaning of this?!" Cecilia asked indignantly, "What's going on?!"

Answer to that question came together with Ichika's elder sister, who just entered the room. "Orimura-sensei, where's Ichika-kun?!" Maya asked just as Chifuyu entered the room. Instead of answer, elder sister just showed the screen of her smartphone, there was opened SMS: "Emergency assignment, I'll miss the race, level 5 priority." That was all. Thanks to shocking content of the message no one paid attention to the fact that massage came from user named 'My dearest brother'…

Chifuyu hid her phone in the pocket, "His entry for the race was already annulled, without any procedures, so seemingly order came from the very top." Though that seemed obvious, since level 5 priority was the highest possible one. "But that didn't change anything for neither of us," Orimura-sensei added. "Show everything you've learned!"

"Yes, Orimura-sensei!" All five girls replied in unison.

"Everyone, are you ready? Please move to the starting line," Yamada-sensei's voice, which has become a little discouraged, resounded. And despite girls still were confused, under searing gaze of Orimura Chifuyu they had no choice but to comply.

* * *

October 1st, Sunday, 10:18 A.M.

 **"JDS Kaga"** **helicopter carrier** , Tokyo Bay, 10 miles away from Yokohama, about 16 miles away from Tokyo I.S. Arena ( **Cannonball Fast** was happening right there right now), 13 miles away from I.S. Academy.

Ichika was here, floating about two miles above aforementioned ship, with his both magnetometric and LADAR-based sensors arrays continuously scanning surrounding airspace. The reason for all that was a top secret intelligence report – they were sure that criminal organization named 'Phantom Task' is going to commit diversion during **Cannonball Fast**. For some reason intelligence was sure that enemy will use I.S. units, and that attack will be launched from Yachimata's side (i.e. from the east).

Exactly because of that Ichika got a top priority order to forget about **Cannonball Fast** , and instead be ready to intercept the enemy. Honestly, Ichika wasn't sad at all – he thought that using machines made for war (i.e. I.S.-es) to make clownery shows is just an idiocy. Besides, intelligence information seemed quite trustworthy – Phantom Task became very bold during last few months, so attack on Tokyo I.S. Arena may be quite possible.

Only last part of intelligence report seemed strange – why they decided that Phantom Task will attack openly, and from the east? That, most likely, was just a supposition. Much more likely that they came via civilian transportation network, and then deploy their units near Arena. Nevertheless, Ichika decided to not argue with Minister of Defense, in the end, with **Demon Queen** 's speed and acceleration rate, and considering his current position, he will be on Arena within one minute, give or take. Besides, his presence on arena really could be a distracting factor for other I.S. pilots. There are military representatives on arena right now, so in case of troubles Ichika will be informed immediately. On the other hand, if intelligence was right after all and enemy will try to assault openly – Ichika will be able to intercept them above less populated areas than Tokyo City's center.

* * *

"Now, the first year personal I.S. user's race will begin!" The loud announcement echoed. All girls reached starting positions, and began to ignite their thrusters. Over the center of the full-house audience, the signal lamp lighted up. "3… 2… 1… Go!"

Cecilia rushed out first. In the blink of an eye, the first corner was passed, and Cecilia managed to gain the lead.

"Cecilia, I'm going in!" Rin, who said that, suddenly started a fight.

"H-Hey!" Cecilia exclaimed.

"I got you, Cecilia!" The **Impact Cannons** , despite being faced sideways, actually were directed forward and continuously shooting. Cecilia rolled to evade those shots. With that movement, Rin used an explosive acceleration to overtake her.

"Kuh! Not bad!" Cecilia shouted with very competitive tone.

"Hehen! Too slow!" Rin teased blonde.

"…how naïve…" Cold voice interrupted her.

"What!?" Rin noticed the immediate danger too late.

Matching her timing with Rin's acceleration, Laura who followed her right behind came forward. It seems she used the slipstream, created by Rin's I.S., to wait for a chance.

"Damn it!" Chinse girl shouted.

"Too slow!" Laura's voice was calm and cold as ever.

Although Rin tried to direct her **Impact Cannons** hastily, Laura's large caliber revolver cannon was fired a bit faster. It wasn't a direct hit, but in a high-speed maneuver state, being shot at got Rin strayed quite far from the course line.

Furthermore, Laura's diversionary fire reached Houki as well, forcing her to made some weird maneuver, "Kuh! Just as expected, Laura is really strong!"

"Sorry, but I'm going first!" Soft but confident voice announced

"Hey! Charlotte, even you too?!" Rin sounded quite annoyed.

"It's because timing is the most important thing in Cannonball Fast. Well then," Charlotte, who further increased her thrusters' output power, closely pressed Laura.

And just when Rin and Cecilia focused all their senses, trying to catch up with those two, still fighting between themselves, a red laser jumped in.

"This is – Houki!" Rin exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, but could you let me through!?" She asked with quite impudent voice. Until now she was following behind everyone, trying to avoid being dragged into fight, but seemingly she decided to act from here.

"As if I'll let you do that easily!" Cecilia taunted her.

 **Crimson Camellia** 's katana, which can be used for both short and long range, released lasers while Houki closed in on both girls, increasing **Fold-Out Armor** 's thrust output.

Cecilia and Rin added their attacks to hers, and all that turned everyone-for-himself battle royal.

*Don!* *Clash!* *Bam!* The **Impact Cannons** ' bullets, **Blue Tears** cannon's energy charges and **Lunar Rain** 's lasers hit the shock absorbing wall and exploded.

"Out of my way!"

"The race is not over!"

"The real race has just started!"

From the beginning, when girls just have learned that Ichika won't be participating, they were discouraged a little. But when race started, they suddenly understood one thing – one of them can actually win! Winning **Cannonball Fast** was very important for representative candidates, as bad results definitely won't please their superiors. It was important for Charlotte either, if she wants a job after graduation she needs to show herself from best side. For Houki it was probably less important, because anyone will gladly hire her just because she has 4th generation I.S., built by Shinonono Tabane herself… But still, if she, the owner of **Crimson Camellia** will lose to less advanced units – it will greatly hurt her own pride, and, no doubts, that defeat will lower Ichika's opinion about her, at least she thought so (not without reason).

The climax of the battle race was approaching. And when it entered the second lap, an incident occurred. Suddenly, an I.S. that came flying from the sky shot at Laura and Charlotte, who were on the lead.

"What!?" Charlotte sounded shocked.

"That's… **Silent Zephyrs**!" Laura recognized the aggressor.

Without even directing his gaze at Laura and Charlotte, who went off course due to sudden attack, the aggressor's lips curved upwards to reveal a smirk.

* * *

Few seconds earlier.

"Warning! Electromagnetic distortion detected, unknown I.S. has been spotted!" **Naamah** immediately informed her master as soon as unknown 'dot' appeared on scanner's screen. Until now Ichika could only see five blurry 'dots' – that were girls participating in race. Despite very high angular resolution of **Demon Queen** 's new magnetometric sensors array, 'dots' were blurry because girls were inside shield-covered area of the stadium. But new 'dot' was clear, and it was approaching the stadium from north-east. Seemingly, intelligence was right after all, though they weren't quite accurate with presumptive attack direction. But for Ichika that was just a small setback.

"Plot the intercept course," Ichika ordered as **Demon Queen** ignited all her thrusters and began to accelerate. At the same time, Ichika raised his left arm, with his **Second Shift** weapon, **Hand of Eisheth** , being in torpedo launcher mode.

"Valid lock. Torpedo's away," **Naamah** reported as Ichika's left arm launched ball-shaped sphere that was shining like a star, made of dark violet light, its speed was about 1370 meters per second (actually, torpedo's speed = **Demon Queen** 's speed during launch + 850 meters per second).

Shape-shifting plasma weapon in Ichika's right hand, **Sitra Ahra** , took shape of sniper rifle, **Superbia**. _'Damn, at such speed I can't shoot precisely without first Archangel's abilities… Oh, well, I hope with help of my new implant and I.N. support I'll be able to last long enough, without severe consequences…'_ As he thought that, his eyes began to shine with pure white light as he raised his rifle and shot.

* * *

"Kyaaa!" Someone's scream could be heard. Because of the sudden turn of events, the tournament's organizers were left not knowing how to react, and panic began to spread through the audience.

"Calm down! Everyone, calm down and go to the shelter!" The staff's voice reverberated, but no one listened to the transmission.

Ran was among those panicking people. From the very beginning of the race she was confused and disappointed, because she didn't see person she was mostly interested in. Of course, right now she was interested in most I.S.-related things and persons, but still, mostly she was interested in Ichika. She still had some hope that he will still show up in another race or something, but now, in chaos that suddenly erupted, thinking about that was really beside the point. "Ouch...!" Ran was bumped by someone's arm and knocked off balance.

About to fall, her body was caught by a gentle hand, "Are you okay?" Untimely sprightly, female's voice asked.

"Y-Yes…" Ran replied, stuttering. She looked up and saw an older girl, with relatively short, light-blue hair and gentle smile. Ran recognized the owner of supporting hand – she won the I.S. race (second year) just about ten minutes ago – her name was Sarashiki Tatenashi.

Today, Ran's heart throbbed to an older beauty twice. _'Uhh, she's so cool…'_ Ran unwillingly thought.

"Geez, this is really troubling. For now, until the chaos subsides, it's better to stay away from the pathway. Come here," Having her arms naturally pulled, Ran followed Tatenashi. Ran was led to a staff room beyond a door that could only be opened by authorized people. "Well then, onee-chan has a little something to do so please stay here for the time being."

"Umm…" Ran murmured indistinctly.

"If someone comes, please explain to them that the I.S. Academy Student Council president told you to stay here," Tatenashi stated.

"S-Student Council president…" Ran repeated like a parrot. She's a Student Council president herself, but clearly unlike that lady, who can make a clear distinction on what's important in front of her, Ran was very nervous and unable to calm down.

*BOOM!* Suddenly, Ran heard sound that definitely was produced by powerful explosion, but, surprisingly, no one felt the shockwave. Was it thanks to arena's shock absorption shield?

"Oh, seems the Angel of Death has arrived…" Tatenashi said with mysterious face expression. "Okay, I have to go, see you!" She waved to Ran and closed the door.

 _'That throwing finger pose she made looked so cool…'_ Ran was dumbfounded for a while after Tatenashi left, and was unable to move. "…What's going on!?" Ran finally cried her question, though here was no one to answer. She remembered the moment where the offender trespassed into the race and began firing its cannon toward participants.

 _'Everything should be okay, right?... Ichika-sama, where are you?…'_ Along with the hands that grabbed each other tightly, just like a prayer, a wish has been made.

* * *

Few moments earlier…

"Are you okay?! Laura, Charlotte?!" Houki immediately moved to the side of those two, who had crashed into the wall, and extended her **Fold Out Armor** on maximum angles. In the next instant, attacks from the BT rifle were raining down.

"Kuh…!" Most attack were blocked by **Fold Out Armor** , made of crimson energy, but few managed to pass. Though, **Crimson Camellia** was a **Gladiator** -type unit, she possesses pretty thick shield, so that wasn't too bad.

"Houki-san! Leave that I.S. to me!" Houki heard Cecilia's determined voice.

"Cecilia!? Hey!" Rin interfered but Cecilia ignored her.

" **Blue Tears Mark II** unit, **Silent Zephyrs** …! This time surely!" Not heeding to Rin's call, Cecilia headed towards the assaulter – **Silent Zephyrs** – alone.

But, unlike a normal operation, Cecilia's unit was equipped with the high-speed maneuver package, and so, her BiTs' shooting ability had been sealed. Some reduction in the firepower of that large BT rifle, **Blue Pierce** (also known as **Starlight Mark III** ), that also seemed to be intended, was also something that shouldn't be ignored. More powerful version of **Starlight Mark III** , heavy sniper rifle **Stardust Shooter** , wasn't included in the package at this time, to divert even more power to thrusters.

"Houki! I'll depend on you for defense!" Rin hastily followed Cecilia, who had just left towards the **Silent Zephyrs**.

Cecilia's **Blue Pierce** beam rifle shot, and Rin's **Shockwave Cannons** aimed and fired at once towards the enemy. "You're not getting away!" Cecilia seemed quite worked up.

But, **Silent Zephyrs** didn't even try to evade the attacks, and a defiant smile surfaced on the pilot's face. Right when the attacks made contact, an umbrella-shaped shield surfaced.

"Kuh! Just as expected, a shield bit… Rin-san! Let's do a multi-directional attack!" Cecilia ordered.

"Don't boss me around! Geez, I'll do it anyway!" Rin suppressed her defiant spirit and agreed to do as Cecilia said. But then…

Rin and Cecilia, as well as **Silent Zephyrs** ' pilot, all three looked somewhere aside. Seemingly, their I.S-es informed them about incoming attack. Like bewitched, they were watching at approaching dark-violet sphere that was shining like a star. Though all three girls were warned, that sphere definitely was targeting **Silent Zephyrs**. Pilot understood that and she immediately repositioned her shield BiT.

"Rin-san! Get back!" Cecilia shouted, but that was unnecessary as Rin also understood what it is and what's going to happen next. When she saw that both Rin and Cecilia fell back, she got worried, but she had no time to rethink her actions anyway as dark-violet 'star' was approaching too fast.

Right before the impact, torpedo dived down, and then hit the shield BiT upward, diagonally. Under Ichika's order, **Naamah** was controlling torpedo 'manually', so shockwave would spread upward, as Stadium defense shield definitely wasn't designed to withstand such a force, and half of the stadium could collapse.

Returning to **Silent Zephyrs** , its shield BiT was obliterated by direct hit, and semi-directional, half-sphere shaped shockwave sent enemy I.S. flying away head over heels. **Silent Zephyrs** ' shield didn't take much damage, but, as it was said, torpedo wasn't designed to do direct damage to begin with.

Finally, after she flew several tens of meters, M managed to stabilize her I.S. She couldn't understand what exactly just happened, but she had no time to think about that anyway as her I.S. again warned her about incoming attack. By executing emergency maneuver, M managed to avoid direct hit, but plasma fireball exploded right below her, and that was quite painful for both M and her unit.

And that wasn't all – M still couldn't see the enemy who was shooting at her, which means that he's still quite afar (more than ten miles away). In turn, that means, despite plasma fireball's immense speed, it was shot more than ten seconds ago – before torpedo exploded and threw M's I.S. away, but still fireball was heading straight at her. That means that enemy somehow knew exactly where she will be after explosion. How's that even possible?!

But M had no time to think about that, another plasma fireball was already incoming. At the same time, she managed to see the enemy – an I.S., which was glowing with dreadful dark violet light, was approaching from the south at very high speed, now there was about seven miles between them.

When she saw first plasma fireball – M already knew who's shooting at her – she was dodging the same fireballs while trying to evacuate Autumn. In the next moment she got confirmation. As she barely managed to avoid second attack, she heard cold, low, echoing voice via I.S. public channel, "Nice dancing… Now try to dodge this." Approaching his target, weapon in Ichika's right hand took shape of heavy plasma machinegun, **Luxuria** , as **Hand of Eisheth** took shape of rapid-firing particle cannon, and Ichika opened fire from both weapon.

Hail of energy charges fell on M. 45 shots per second from heavy plasma machinegun **Luxuria** \+ 15 shots per second from particle cannon **Hand of Eisheth** = 60 charges were shot towards M each second. **Silent Zephyrs** ' pilot hastily deployed all her remaining shield BiTs (one was destroyed, five remained), but even that wasn't a panacea. Even controlling the shield BiTs and executing maneuvers at the same time, M couldn't avoid damage entirely, plasma and antimatter charges were still exploding all around her, while shield BiTs' energy was rapidly decreasing; in the meantime, enemy I.S. was still approaching at high speed.

All this time neither Rin nor Cecilia dared to approach **Silent Zephyrs** or interfere with any other way, they were just afraid to be caught into this firestorm.

When distance between **Silent Zephyrs** and **Demon Queen** shortened to approximately 500 feet, M sent almost depleted shield BiTs right at approaching enemy and set them to self-destruct. BiTs flew towards approaching enemy and exploded, producing powerful shockwave.

"Ugh!..." But, to her surprise, **Demon Queen** easily evaded all explosions, as if pilot knew exactly where and when they will explode. M quickly deployed energy cannon BiTs, but that was already too late as in the next moment **Demon Queen** 's left claw-like hand literally grabbed M by her throat. I.S. shield can't prevent physical contact between two units. "…Argh!" M let out a choked moan.

Using full power of her powerful thrusters, **Demon Queen** flew down, dragging **Silent Zephyrs** in front of herself, still holding its pilot by her throat. *BOOM!* With loud noise **Silent Zephyrs** crashed into the ground. But that wasn't all – with another crushing sound Ichika slammed his I.N's right fist into M's face. **Silent Zephyrs** ' shield partially softened that blow, but, as it is very well known – I.S. barrier isn't perfect. Force of the blow was big enough to damage M's mask-like visor (it cracked all over). Not that M gave up, just before Ichika hit her she directed all her BiTs at him and was about to shoot, but due to force of the blow M got the brain concussion. Her I.S. helped her to recover, bot for a mere second she lost control over her BiTs. That was more than enough for Ichika. **Sitra Ahra** already took shape of large, double-edged plasma sword, **Invidia** , which immediately began to shine as bright as sun, illuminating entire stadium with that ominous dark violet light – Ichika activated **Paradise of Darkness** barrier-void ability. With only one third of her shield remaining, M definitely will be beheaded. When, during their previous meeting, Ichika promised to get her head, he by no means was joking…

* * *

Few moments earlier…

"Ara ara, it seems this one's too much even for M…" Even here, behind arena's barrier, she could feel shockwaves from explosions around **Silent Zephyrs**. While looking at intruder, at M, and at the one who attacked her, beyond her sunglasses, the woman narrowed her eyes as if she was carefully examining the course of battle. Looking at her clearly, it's the lady that bumped into Ran earlier. "Even so, it seems that technical gap between two frames is just too big. That glowing I.S. is just like a monster…"

"You think so? In fact, I think that the one controlling that I.S. is as much of a monster as I.S. itself, or even more…" Behind her, a voice called out for this lady, who just sighed in response, the lady didn't even turn around. She already knew whose voice called for her – Sarashiki Tatenashi. While being I.S. academy Student Council president, she was a 'genius' who has already attained the right of freely choosing her nationality while still being a student. She's currently Russia's representative. Not a representative candidate, but a full-fledged representative.

"Hmm… **Moskovski Gustoi Tuman** [Moscow's Dense Mist] isn't it? Your unit's name?" Lady asked.

"That's its old name. It's called **Mysterious Lady** now," Tatenashi noted.

"I see," The woman replied lazily as she turned back. In an instant, a glistening knife was thrown.

"A woman without manners isn't attractive, you know," Tatenashi, who deployed her I.S. in an instant, repelled it using the whip sword **Rusty Nail**. And then just like that, she used that sword which bends just like a whip to aim at the woman.

"You too, aren't you quite rude to someone you've just met for the first time?" While taking off her sunglasses, the woman deployed the arm part of her own I.S. and blocked the whip sword's attack with it.

"'Phantom Task', what's your target I wonder?" Tatenashi asked casually.

"Ara, there's no way I'm gonna tell you ain't I? Since we finally managed to make a good situation too," Woman replied with the same casual voice.

"Then I'm going to hear it even if I have to force it from your mouth," Tatenashi smiled charmingly.

"I wonder if you're up to the task? Sarashiki Tatenashi-san?" Woman asked calmly.

"I've already said I am, Squall," Sarashiki replied, letting go of the whip sword, she called out her spear at the same time. That thing which has a 4-barrel gatling gun inside of it, made some kind of formation and fired at once.

Tatenashi managed to accurately grasp her opponent, but there was no leeway in her face. Squall's figure was encompassed by a yellow cocoon, and not even one bullet managed to reach her. "How about we stop this?" Woman named Squall suggested, "Your unit won't be able to break through mine. You also know this right?"

*BOOM!* At the same time, both Squall and Tatenashi heard loud sound of crushing metal. Through dust cloud they saw what happened to **Silent Zephyrs**.

"Damn! We can't afford loosing this unit now!" Squall shouted. It was unclear – does she care only about I.S., and M's life means very little for her, or it was just a bravado, but in an instant she fully deployed her I.S., **Golden Dawn**. Both she and Sarashiki saw Ichika raising his sword and activation of his **One-Off Ability** , capable of nullifying energy barriers. Even from here Squall could feel Ichika's murderous intent. Without delay, she opened fire from both plasma machineguns, mounted on her arms. That were common 1st generation plasma machineguns, and according to charges white-yellow glow, its temperature was about 3300 – 3600 Kelvins.

Sudden appearance of another I.S. distracted Ichika for a moment. That moment was enough for M to regain her control over BiTs and she also attacked Ichika. Being attacked by two I.S. at the same time, even **Demon Queen** 's pilot couldn't ignore it. Ichika soared into the air and engaged evasive maneuvers. "Alright…" He said with echoing voice full of scorn "…I'll start with you then…"

 **Silent Zephyrs** also stood up and then flew up, using her BiTs to attack Ichika. But neither she nor Squall managed to land a direct hit. Ichika's maneuvers weren't just so precise and elegant, he could easily predict enemies' attacks. "All units, status report!" Ichika broadcasted his request to all personal units' owners on the field.

"I'm still unable to enter the battlefield directly. At least I'll give some fire support with my cannon," Laura reported first – as expected from military trained officer. Seemingly, her thrusters and weapon systems were operational, but PIC was damaged, so she couldn't fly.

"The thrusters completely died off. I can still fly using the PIC, but against that unit I won't be able to catch up." That report came from Charlotte. Her situations seemed somehow opposite to Laura's but in the end both could only give some fire support, and only within limited part of arena's airspace.

"My unit suffered light damage, but all systems seem to be operational," Cecilia's voice reported.

"Same here, all systems go," Rin's report came.

"I… I'm fine as well," Houki reported last, and her report was the most unintelligible, definitely it came from person lacking military training.

"Alright, Cecilia, Rin, Houki – you three – shoot down that enormously big mosquito," Ichika ordered, no doubts he meant **Silent Zephyrs**. "Do not relent, lethal force authorized. And I'll take care about that annoying bug," Ichika looked at **Golden Down**. Ichika decided that, even despite their lack of abilities, three girls will be able to handle **Silent Zephyrs** , which already lost two thirds of its shield.

"Hey! Don't you dare ignore me!" Ichika heard resentful exclamation, voice belonged to Tatenashi. Right now she was chasing Squall, who, in turn, was completely ignoring her, focusing her attacks on **Demon Queen**.

* * *

"Cecilia!" Houki shouted.

At the last moment, thanks to Houki's warning, Cecilia managed to dodge powerful beam attack that came from **Silent Zephyrs** 's BT rifle, **Star Breaker**. But, **Silent Zephyrs** – who had just done that – used the Flexible BT attack. The beam flexibly bent in its path and locked on to her once again. Cecilia still got indirect hit, and crashed into the wall on her back because of that.

Seeing her wide open, **Silent Zephyrs** didn't let the chance go. "Die…" M hissed, she was boiling with fury – all she wanted is to rid from all these annoying girls and join her forces with Squall to destroy **Demon Queen** 's pilot, who humiliated her so many times today. BT rifle was aimed at Cecilia, using its maximum power. The electrical discharge shaped energy that overflowed from that rifle was released in her direction.

"Kyaa!?" Girl's scream sliced the air.

"Rin!?" Cecilia exclaimed in shock. Rin, who just received Silent Zephyr rifle's maximum power attack, was fiercely blown away. "Mo… Moron! Why are you covering for me… Hey! Rin!"

"You're so noisy… It's because you're so stupid…" Rin, who took the blow in Cecilia's place, faced her to punch blonde, and then lost consciousness. It was probably because the Absolute Defense Field ability of the I.S, that makes the pilot lose their consciousness when it receives a critical damage, activated. Honestly, it was quite tough.

"Rin! Damn it!" Cecilia looked at enemy furiously. She raised her body, but then once again, **Silent Zephyrs** ' attack was directed at her.

"I won't let you!" Right before it could fire, this time it was Houki who comes in the space between Cecilia and **Silent Zephyrs**. Furthermore, it was not to become a shield, instead she made use of 4th grade thrusters and **Fold Out Armor** thrust output to do a body ram attack. She knocked **Silent Zephyrs** away. "Cecilia, you're alright?!"

"Houki-san, use this chance to go and check Rin-san! I'll take over this place until then!" Regaining her determination, Cecilia soared as if to pin down **Silent Zephyrs** , that was recovering from Houki's body ram attack. Just like that, Cecilia pushed M into the arena's shield barrier. Firing her thruster to rush at the shield as if to crash the enemy to it for many times, the barrier finally broke during the fourth charge.

"Damn you…" M growled.

"This **Blue Tears Mark One** 's power, I'll show it to you to your heart's content!" Cecilia shouted, from the crevice of the broken barrier, two **Blue Tears** units flew out. Accelerating together at once, they flew to the town area.

"Wait Cecilia, it's too reckless!" Houki shouted, but her words fell on deaf ears.

* * *

In the meantime, when Rin, Cecilia and Houki drew attention of **Silent Zephyrs** , dodging the remaining enemy's attack became a real child's play. But still, Ichika was thinking about what to do with **Golden Dawn** 's external barrier. Of course there was a simple way – just apply excessive force. Beam plasma cannon **Ira** was designed just for that and from this range, double-barreled automatic scattergun **Avaritia** also could do the trick. But using it here may result in enormous collateral damage – stadium itself, highways and even buildings around it will be damaged. If so, Ichika could activate his second _Archangel_ and use _Eyes of Kamael_ to find some flaws in that shield, but using two _Archangels_ at the same time is very taxing. Though, there was another way…

"Enemy's shield analyses completed," Woman's voice reported. Yes, for cases like that Ichika has A.I. **Naamah**. "This is static plasma field, projected by twenty-four emitters."

"Any flaws?" Ichika asked.

"Each emitter connected directly to main power distribution system," A.I. added.

"Oh, is that so?" Ichika smiled, "Then you know what to do, right?"

"I am ready, Adonai," **Naamah** reported.

* * *

"Damn, what is with that shield?!" Tatenashi swore, she couldn't get through that golden cocoon-like shield. She probably could try another method, her strongest attack – combination of her nano-machines infused water and maximum power spear attack – **Lance of Mistilteinn** [Actually, _Mistilteinn_ , also known as _Mysteltainn_ , was a sword from old Icelandic saga], but using this attack at such a high speed would be very difficult, even for Tatenashi. Suddenly, she heard a message via private channel.

"Sarashiki, get back!" She heard Ichika's cold, echoing voice.

"What?!" She asked, but instead of answer she only heard a countdown:

"…Three …two …one…" Ichika was already holding sniper rifle **Superbia** , aiming at Squall's I.S. At the last moment, Tatenashi managed to get away.

Squall also noticed Ichika targeting her, but seemingly she decided that her shield will be able to withstand that attack as well. Big mistake…

*Clash!* Ichika landed a direct hit. But instead of normal plasma blast, **Golden Dawn** was enveloped into some sort of electro-storm – it looked like dense blue cloud made purely of electricity. Electric cloud existed for about ten seconds. When it dissipated, Tatenashi saw **Golden Dawn** , without its shield and unmoving. Moment later it began to fall, as if all its systems turned off, including ion thrusters and PIC.

…Actually, that's exactly what happened. Instead of using normal charge, **Naamah** loaded Ichika's rifle with electro-plasma right from her own reactor. After being shot, all that enormous amount of energy, through target's own static plasma shield emitters, was grounded on enemy's I.S. power distribution network and, through it, on **Golden Dawn** 's main reactor itself. Due to massive overload it was automatically shot down. Squall's I.S. fell on the ground, completely paralyzed.

"…Ugh… What… happened…" Squall moaned with hoarse voice, looking at two I.S-es, which landed in front of her. One of them was Tatenashi's **Mysterious Lady** , and since she has no helmet, Squall could see her face – her expression was something between pity and curiosity. **Demon Queen** landed nearby. Through her fully closed helmet Ichika's face couldn't be seen, but Squall could easily imagine his arrogant expression.

"See?" Cold, echoing voice asked. "Every design has some flaw… if it's not my design, of course…" Ichika leaned down and grabbed Squall by her throat with his right claw-like hand and lifted her up. With her I.S. powered down, Squall looked like a rag-doll. Since Phantom Task's I.S. suits were more revealing than common models, Ichika could see a lot of Squall's skin… curves of her body looked very nice. But Ichika was looking at her face… its expression was quite defiant.

"You… you will regret this!" Squall shouted angrily… but Ichika ignored her.

 **Demon Queen** 's left claw gently touched Squall's head. "Ah, you can't imagine how much I want to tear off that pretty head of yours… Each time I see pathetic members of your pathetic organization, it makes me feel especially vindictive…" Talon-like metallic fingers slipped down and grabbed Squall's chin. "But, unlike that little bitch, you probably possess some valuable information…"

"You really think I'll talk even if you'll manage to capture me?" Squall asked with narrowed eyes. She possesses an enviable equanimity.

"Oh, you won't talk…" She heard Ichika's response, "…You will sing, sing like a nightingale…" And, it was said with such a friendly voice, that, just for a mere moment, Squall's face was distorted with fear. But Ichika ignored that, "But, right now, we have more pressuring matters. First, we need to brand you, as a reward for giving threats that you can't back up…" As Ichika said that, he began to carve something on Squall's forehead with **Demon Queen** 's talon-like finger, making deep, bleeding wounds (he was still holding her by throat with his right arm).

"Ichika?! What are you doing?!" Tatenashi cried as her eyes widened in shock. Of course she knew that he's a sociopath, but what he was doing now… Is he just a cruel sadist who like to hurt, torture and humiliate people? But worst of all, she, Tatenashi Sarashiki, she knew that she has to stop him… but actually she was afraid to do so…

And Ichika ignored both her exclamation and internal struggle.

"Flowers of evil, steadily bloom, with an array of colorful doom…"

"…as for the weeds like you, who feels that they want to stay…"

"…you all just die and feed me all the same anyway."

Silently singing some weird song, Ichika carved three symbols on Squall's forehead: "כֶּ" "תֶ" "ר" It were symbols of **Kether** [The Crown] – first, topmost sephira of three of life. While Ichika was doing it, Squall stoically endured pain and humiliation, but Ichika could see burning hatred in her eyes.

"Ichika… why…?" Tatenashi was still shocked.

But Ichika didn't reply. Probably due to lack of action, or by some another reason, just as he finished carving those symbols, Ichika came out of his _Archangel mode_ … Right now, looking at Squall face, he understood that what he just did was… nice example of antisocial behavior, to put it mildly… Even though he was using only one of his _Archangels_ , he definitely went overboard… but what's done is done.

Ichika never was merciful, but with _Archangels_ active, he couldn't help it but look at his enemies as if they're insects, especially when he was using powers of first _Archangel_ , **Yahoel** (It's one of seventy names of **Metatron** ). Well, maybe this is how sinners should be treated like, in the end he got two most militaristic beings, and these beings not only provides him with exceptional combat abilities, but also amplifies Ichika's inborn vindictive nature – 'Phantom Task' will never be forgiven…

Knowing that justifying his previous deed isn't possible, he decided to act as if nothing happened. "Alright, now we need to extract her from I.S.," Ichika said, pointing at Squall. "Come, use your water veil, if we'll manage to return this frame to owning country with minimum damage, compensation will be bigger. Don't worry, I'll give you an honest share…"

Of course, a chance to steal **Golden Dawn** 's core would be much better, but right now there were no such possibility – Tatenashi's here, besides, Arena's automatic cameras are still working, so **Realizer** isn't an option as well. So right now, most profitable thing Ichika could do – return **Golden Dawn** together with its core to original owners for compensation.

Since she still was a bit shocked with Ichika previous actions (disfiguring of Squall face), Tatenashi didn't even noticed that his voice returned to normal, and of course she couldn't instantly comprehend what he wants from her.

* * *

In the meantime, outside arena.

 _'Kuh! Just as expected, she's strong…!'_ While keeping her pace with her enemy, Cecilia directed the high-output BT long rifle **Blue Pierce** towards **Silent Zephyrs**. But, as if carefully aiming for that attack timing, the distance between them opened again due to the obstruction from the barrage of energy shots from enemy's own BiTs.

"…" M disinterestedly repeated her attacks toward Cecilia over and over again while keeping her silence. Accuracy, overwhelming barrage speed, and to top it all, Flexible BT attack ( **Deviation Shot** ), were making Cecilia suffer.

 _'I will get hit sooner or later if it stays this way. Now that things have come to this…!'_ Cecilia summoned the close range blade **Interceptor** into her tightly clenching hand, and charged at **Silent Zephyrs** at once, "I got you!"

"Fine…" M, as if to say she'll play the game, summoned a short sword to her left hand and started a close range battle with Cecilia.

*Kin!* When the two blades hit each other, a sharp sound and sparks flew.

"Kuh…!" Cecilia moaned. Despite that she went through training with Ichika, so she could fight using melee weapon, opponent still seemed to be stronger fighter. Besides, close ranged battle at supersonic speed harshly consumes a person's mental power. But, Cecilia, as if to say that she won't lose even in obstinacy, refused to back down.

While the one handed close quarter battle continued, M dared to decrease her speed. And then, the chasing Cecilia came almost crashing into the high-speed road's multi-level crossing point which suddenly entered her field vision.

"You!" Cecilia, who barely got out from the dangerous situation using Alley Roll [high speed rotating maneuver] was enraged at M who laughed as if to make fun of her, _'She intends to play around with me!?'_ Cecilia swung downward her blade once again. But, with a flash, that blade was repelled and knocked out of Cecilia's hand. "How?!" Blonde didn't even understand how exactly that happened.

"…You're already dead," It was a cold voice that can make you tremble. And then, a merciless barrage of energy charges poured down on Cecilia's whole body. "For that he did to me – you all will die…" Not that M actually thought that Ichika really cares about this or any other girl, she just wanted to splash out her frustration on someone.

"Augh!" The shield energy was gone at once, and the rifle that was in Cecilia's left hand was destroyed. Just when she thought she would get wounded from crashing to the concrete road, Cecilia barely managed to do an emergency pull-out just before she reached the ground. Situation seemed bad as, this time, **Stardust Shooter** , augmented version of **Blue Pierce** rifle, wasn't included in this package. Thus, with destruction of **Blue Pierce** , Cecilia lost all her handheld weapons.

"It's over," M said with cold voice. From the high power rifle that was equipped with a bayonet, **Star Breaker** , a blue-purple light was released.

"Not… yet. I still have my trump card!" Shouting that, Cecilia hit the trigger inside her heart. High-speed maneuver package **Strike Gunner**. Out of all the techniques to redirect all of the propulsion power of the BITs, it was technique that was said to be a forbidden maneuver, a technique that must never be used… " **Blue Tears Full Burst**!" Simultaneous shots from all of the closed cannons. A simultaneous discharge of four cannons that blew away the parts, which were used to reconfigure them. This was something that could be said to be the worst situation, dismantling a unit in mid-air. But, for Cecilia who couldn't use Flexible BT attack ( **Deviation Shot** ), this was the highest level of attack that could be said to have the timing of a finishing blow.

"This is your trump card? Don't make me laugh!" M raised her voice. And then, together with a laughing voice, she evaded all of Cecilia's shots with high speed rolls.

"Wha…!?" Cecilia seemed shocked.

"Die," Together with this word, the bayonet pierced Cecilia's two arms.

"Aaaaah!" A scream escaped due to the extreme pain.

Hearing that voice, M's lips evilly contorted.

 _'Please, **Blue Tears** …'_ Cecilia directed both her pierced right and left hands, which were no longer able to grasp anything, toward M. Inside her heart, a blue drop of water fell. That drop of water that fell on the water's surface made a wide ripple. _'Ah, is that so… **Blue Tears** is, in a word…'_

"…?" M was unable to figure out Cecilia's plan.

And, a smile slowly surfaced on Cecilia's face. "Bang!" She made a pistol shape with her hand. There was nothing fired from that fingertip, of course, but… within the next instant, M was pierced by 4 beams from behind her.

"Ugh!?" Her scream sounded quite surprised.

A technique that could only be used with a highly skilled manipulation of BT energy, Flexible BT attack ( **Deviation Shot** ). Cecilia finally managed to make that technique her own in the last moment, but her unit that lost its propulsion power in supersonic condition was unable to maintain its appearance and started to break down.

 _'So this is as far as I can go isn't it… But, I managed to return a blow…'_ Cecilia accepted her defeat with a sportsman's-like attitude. Her hands are still pierced with **Star Breaker** 's bayonet, seemingly – this is the end… But, at the moment she gave up…

"Get your hands off her, bitch!" Another female's voice shouted. Red blade-like laser sliced the air, as well as it sliced **Star Breaker** in half. Crimson I.S. appeared as if from nowhere and grabbed Cecilia, whose I.S. began to fall down. "Sorry for being late, I had to help Charlotte and Laura to get away from arena…"

"Ara, Houki-san… Fufu, you're really late…" Blonde smiled weakly.

"Sorry about that!" Houki snorted, "I just… Hey! Cecilia!? Cecilia!?"

Cecilia's vital signs were sent to Houki's visual interface. It seems she just lost consciousness. _'Pushing yourself too hard, geez…'_ Houki found a building's roof where it seemed she could get down, and landed there. Seemingly, Cecilia's I.S. stopped the bleeding in the wounds on her arms… But, it could be bad if it's not tended to, quickly. At I.S. academy, there's a facility that's on the same level as a university's hospital. For the time being, bringing her back to the facility seemed like the best solution.

"…!" Houki, who was about to stand up and fly away, got startled and stopped her movement. **Silent Zephyrs** ' pilot was coldly looking down at two girls with its back facing the sun. There's an icy presence accompanying that gaze, like the pressure one feel when there's a knife pointed in point blank range at his neck.

"You bastard…" M hissed.

Houki looked scornfully at M. The enemy's face can't be seen because of the visor (even though it was damaged), but the enmity she gave out should have reached the enemy. "Want to try me!?" She asked defiantly. Though, she already knew the answer. This battle was over. Maybe Houki's lower class pilot than that girl – but her frame, **Crimson Camellia** , is the real deal. But that's not the most important thing.

 **Silent Zephyrus** was too battered. It already lost two thirds of its shield and all six shield bits in battle against Ichika, then, after Cecilia's 'treacherous' shot, only 117 shield points left, and now she just lost her high-powered rifle. No matter how good plot M was – in this condition she has no chances against fully armed 4th generation frame. **Silent Zephyrus** turned around, and quickly flew towards Stadium.

Houki decided to not chase it – right now, Cecilia's life is much more important, besides, if it's heading back to stadium – Ichika can handle things from here – about that Houki was certain.

* * *

Just as Ichika raised his sword, preparing to cut open some parts of **Golden Dawn** 's armor to 'extract' Squall from her I.S., he noticed that **Silent Zephyrus** once again appeared above stadium, thanks to his 360-degree field of vision. "What a stubborn bitch," He swore silently, though he couldn't understand what exactly she hopes for. But answer came right after.

Still floating above the stadium, M didn't send her BiTs through the hole in arena's barrier, which was previously made by Cecilia, as Ichika expected. Instead they flew above and opened fire at the bottom of huge metallic lighting tower. With half of its metallic armature being melted down by high energy rays, the tower began to fall.

That stadium, it was built for I.S.-involving competitions. As such, everything here was of corresponding size, including lighting towers. For instance, weight of each one was about 160 tons. And, worst of all, if left untouched, that huge metallic thing definitely will fall right on control room. M really was smart – as she managed to calculate her shots precisely.

A lot of time has passed since Ichika felt such a surge of hatred, probably since he was kidnapped back then in Germany. In that control room… Rin, who lost consciousness, was there. Charlotte and Laura, whose frames were damaged, were there. Maya Yamada also was there. Probably few more people from JSDF and I.S. Academy also were there. If that huge thing will fall on control room – lives of aforementioned people will be in danger. They probably won't die… but there's still a possibility, a risk. But for Ichika, it was still tolerable, in other words, endangering lives of those people in exchange for 100% chance of capturing or eliminating two members of 'Phantom Task' seemed like an acceptable risk. In the end – in this twisted world – all people are expendable… all but one.

And Ichika knew that she's also there. Person who was honor-bound to stay here until the very end, until this crisis is resolved. Person who by no means could leave her students, even though she could do very little on her own in that situation. And no way Ichika could ignore anything that could threaten the life of only person in this world he holds dear, even the slightest risk ain't acceptable.

Tatenashi also was looking at lighting tower that began to fall. And suddenly, her whole body began to tremble in fear. And not because she was worried about people in control room, it was because she suddenly felt immensely powerful aura of fury right beside herself. She, the Student Council president of I.S. Academy and official representative of a country, was so scared that she couldn't even move.

"Little insect… You will die in agony!" High iron voice roared as **Demon Queen** soared into the air, igniting her thrusters at full power. Too bad, but Ichika couldn't waste even a second, even to kill Squall to make sure she won't escape somehow. His sword turned into plasma arc projector, **Cardinal Sin**. Still accelerating, Ichika swung it, and crescent-like plasma charge made another breach in arena's barrier. Another swing, and another crescent-like plasma charge sliced off the top of lighting tower. Without tower, tower's top lost its lever, but still it was falling along already gained vector, and Ichika had no time to blow it up or destroy by another means. Thus he did only thing that could be done in that situation – he grabbed antenna, and used his I.N. thrusters at full power to nullify construct's angular speed. After that, he released the construct and it simply fell straight down, crashing stadium's stand, but control room and people inside it were saved.

Tatenashi was watched at that scene like entranced. _'Incredible power…'_ She thought, looking at Ichika's I.S. with saucer-wide eyes – that tower's top weight, even without tower itself, was about 100 tons. Yet, **Demon Queen** managed to hold it in the air. Too late she noticed the danger. While Ichika was busy, **Silent Zephyrus** ' BiTs opened fire at her. At the same time, **Golden Dawn** released emergency locks, releasing Squall. Tatenashi quickly recovered and raised her spear, just when Squall threw knife at her.

"Such a thing!" Sarashiki shouted. The blade of water cut the knife to pieces. But, in that instant a big explosion occurred, originating from it, "What!?"

A thick black smoke enveloped her, she couldn't see a thing, but of course, for an I.S., this level of sight impediment was the same as nothing, especially for anti-terrorist I.S. like **Moscow's Dense Fog** – it was equipped with very advanced thermal imager. However, right now Tatenashi was forced to evade another barrage of energy charges, shot by **Silent Zephyrus** ' BiTs. And then, Sarashiki saw a horrifying picture. From that black cloud, **Silent Zephyrus** soared into the air, Tatenashi didn't even noticed how it got inside. But worst of all – enemy I.S. was carrying a woman in its arms, and that woman, in turn, was carrying white glowing sphere in her arms. That was the worst case scenario. "You won't get away!" Tatenashi rushed to chase the enemy, skillfully avoiding shots from **Silent Zephyrus** ' BiTs.

But, sadly, **Silent Zephyrus** was faster than **Mysterious Lady** , distance between them was steadily increasing, as **Silent Zephyrus** was heading towards downtown area. And when distance between **Silent Zephyrus** and **Mysterious Lady** became big enough, enemy I.S. turned around huge trade center… and disappeared from radar.

"What?!" Tatenashi reached position where **Silent Zephyrus** was seen for the last time, but there were no traces of it. "How's that possible?!"

In ten seconds, another I.S. approached her. That was **Demon Queen** , just as Ichika confirmed control room's safety – he also chased after enemy. "Where are they?" High iron voice asked, right now Ichika was using his second _Archangel_. Though, it seems that Ichika managed to get a hold on himself, as oppressive aura around him was no more.

"I lost tracking somewhere around here," Tatenashi reported. " **Silent Zephyrus** possess radar and optical camouflage systems, but still, to disappear so abruptly…"

"No, it's not that," Ichika said as he looked at his magnetometric scanner screen. No camouflage system can hide electromagnetic distortion, but right now Ichika could see only one 'dot' on his scanner, and according to its signature it was Houki's **Crimson Camellia** , it was right above I.S. academy. As such, there was only one possibility, "She undeployed her I.S., and now they're hiding in this trade center."

That was very bad situation. Quarters, which were closest to the stadium, were evacuated due to disturbance, but this trade center was quite far from it, so it was working normally. But worst thing – this trade center was built right upon subway station, with direct access to it.

"We should alert subway and trade center's security!" Tatenashi exclaimed, "No way two women, wearing I.S. suits wouldn't be noticed!"

"Already done," Ichika replied. "But I doubt they're still wearing them – clothes that Squall was wearing before she deployed her I.S. – they are still in her quantum space. As for the second one… I guess she also has something to wear." Of course, Squall's forehead's probably still bleeding, since Ichika left his 'signature' on it, but that probably won't help, either. As such, that was it…

And he didn't say it aloud, but it was obvious without words – enemies have escaped. "Damn it… Next time – no prisoners!" Right now, Ichika was angry at himself because he didn't just kill Squall on the spot…

"Enemy lost. I repeat, enemy lost. We are returning…" High iron notes disappeared from Ichika's voice as he reported to someone. _'That little bitch…'_ Ichika clenched his fists as he remembered that damn girl who dared to endanger his elder sister's life _'…She'll regret that she's ever born…'_

* * *

And this is it for now, see you soon people.


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